My Discovery
by Shawn45
Summary: Viola didn't die from the gunshot wound, and was saved by a friendly witch. While recovering from her wounds, the witch gives Viola some startling news, prompting her to go back to the house to learn the truth about Ellen, and figure out why the girl committed such an atrocious act.
1. My Recovery

My Recovery

Viola – or Ellen, since she was now in the body of the one person she thought was her friend, pitifully whimpered and cried to herself as she lay on the ground where her father had shot her. It had been over ten minutes since her father had wounded her so badly, and she had continued to call out for her daddy, wishing for him to come back and save her like he always did when she was in trouble. He had to know that the girl he thought was his daughter was fake, right? He had to know!

"D – Daugh..." She tried to call out, but she just coughed up more blood, tasting the coppery liquid dripping from her mouth. With that last attempt for help, she collapsed to the ground, her blood mixing with the dirt on the ground. She wished she could see – she had no idea what time it was, or how long she had been in this body, it had to be a dream! It had to be! There was no way this could be true! She would just wake up, and be in her bed, and then she could go visit Ellen and talk it over with her, about the horrible nightmare she had.

She tried to crawl forward, moving one hand forward to drag herself up, and then the other. She felt her strength leaving her with every time she pulled herself forward, and finally she stopped, gasping for air. The bullet wound in her shoulder, in addition to all the blood she had lost, was finally getting to her. She again allowed her head to fall to the ground, and she wondered now if this was how she was going to die – in her friend's body in the middle of the forest, pitifully weeping and crying for help.

Her thoughts turned to Ellen – How could she do this to her? She was only trying to help relieve the pain even for a little bit... She had felt so bad and sorry for the girl who had no parents, who lived alone in such a big house. The girl who would smile widely and whose golden eyes would glitter with joy when she saw her. Why would she do this? Why would she steal her body, and her life? Everything from her...?

She never knew she could feel something so strongly before, but she was easily able to identify this feeling. This feeling she felt throughout every fiber of her broken body. She hated her. She hated Ellen... Her supposed friend.

Her ear twitched when she heard something, and she moved her head over to the sound, even though she couldn't see. The animal, person, or whatever, came out from the treeline, she was sure of at least that much.

She heard a female voice gasp in horror, "What in the world?"

"Wh – who...?" Viola wanted to smile, since she finally was able to say something coherent, but the immense pain and worry she was in prevented her from even doing such a small thing.

"Oh my god," The woman who had seen her had rushed through the grass and landed at her side, and she quickly reached into her pocket to pull out something – Viola couldn't see at all, but she felt the older woman force something to her lips, and she greedily drank whatever it was. Viola could suddenly feel the pain begin to whither away, and she couldn't help but let out a sigh at the relief she felt.

"Who...?" Viola attempted to ask again.

"My name is Mary," The woman said, "But that's not important right now," She stated, and Viola felt her body being lifted, "I need to get you to my house..."

"H – Help...?"

"Yes, I'm going to help you." Mary confirmed.

Viola couldn't help start to gasp in and out quickly – if she still had eyes, she was sure she would be weeping right now. Someone had come to help her! Her nose was running, and she pressed her head against the chest of the woman who had picked her up bridal style, she was so afraid that the woman would just suddenly disappear! That all of this would be an illusion of her dying mind!

"You poor thing..." Mary muttered, rubbing Viola's head lightly, "Who would do such a thing?"

Viola could feel her eyelids drooping – for the first time in the last day she felt safe and secure. Someone was willing to help her, and not run or try to murder her.

"No," Mary shook her lightly, "Don't sleep quite yet, dear."

"Wh... Whay?" Viola whimpered, slurring on the word.

"I know it's tough," Mary whispered reassuringly to the girl, "But you've got to be strong. You're so badly injured right now that your body will probably shut down if you go to sleep."

"Uuuaw..." Viola let out a pitiful cry.

"It's ok," Mary whispered, "It's going to be all right. Just be strong for me, ok?"

Viola nodded her head tiredly, keeping her arms wrapped around the chest of the woman carrying her. She couldn't tell how long she had been holding onto the woman, but it certainly felt like days. She felt herself dozing off a few times, but she would force herself to stay awake. Occasionally, the woman holding her would let out a whispered curse, and reach back into her pocket? Purse? Viola was unsure, but the woman would make her drink something, and her tiredness would go away, and she'd feel better too.

"Whaz that?" Viola asked, after drinking the third dose of whatever liquid the woman was giving her.

"Magic." The woman answered.

Viola jerked at the word, and she could feel Mary's grasp on her falter, and she fell to the ground, letting out a scream as an immense pain shot through her.

"I'm sorry!" The woman cried, "I didn't think you'd react like that!"

"M – Magic..." Viola whimpered, "No..."

"Wait." Mary gasped, "You mean... Whoever did this to you used magic?"

Viola nodded, unable to do much more.

"What?" Mary yelled, "To abuse a power in this way!" Viola could almost feel the tremors in the ground as the woman began to shake in fury, "Magic is supposed to help life, not destroy it!"

Viola felt genuinely happy that someone was mad for her sake, but she was still in pain, "H – Help..."

"Oh!" Mary let out a startled gasp, "I'm so sorry!" She picked the girl up again, "I'm sorry, but when I hear about magic abuse, it just sets me off! To explain it better to you, what I've been making you drink is a potion of healing made from the local herbs in this forest, and I use my magic to make it more potent. The problem is that it only works when the person drinking it is conscious, so that's why I need you to stay awake."

Viola nodded, "I s- see..."

"We're almost to my house," The woman claimed as she continued to walk at a brisk pace through the forest towards her home, "It's starting to get pretty late now too. I'm glad I decided to stay out for a while longer, otherwise I might have not found you!"

Viola didn't answer, and instead focused on trying to stay awake. The pain had subsided from the fall, likely due to the healing potion that the woman who was holding her had made, so she decided to ask her question, "A – are..." She coughed, "You... Witch?"

She felt the woman tense a bit at the question, but she relaxed a little, "I suppose if you want to call me that, then yes, I'm a witch. I only help people though, believe me."

Viola had little reason NOT to believe the woman at this point, and it wasn't like she really had a choice either way. She simply nodded into the woman's chest, "Th – Thanyou."

"It's no problem, dear." The witch said, "there was absolutely no way I would leave you out there to fend for yourself in your current state!" She suddenly stopped, and Viola heard what sounded like a door opening up, "We're here!" Viola held on tight as the woman rushed around, and then she heard stomping as the woman went up some stairs, and then another door opened, "This is my guest room, I usually bring in people lost in the woods or people like you who need help."

Viola felt herself being set down on a very comfortable mattress, and she momentarily hesitated when she started to rest – she must have been filthy! She would get blood and dirt all over this nice feeling bed, "B – bath...?"

"Not yet, dear." The older witch said, rushing all around the room, "I need to heal you first, and then afterwards when you wake up, yes, you may take a bath as long as you'd like."

Viola nodded, allowing her head to rest on the pillow. She never thought she would feel the comfort of a bed again, and not be in intense pain, but here she was. She wished she could cry, but without her eyes, she could do little more than let out a pitiful wail as she lay there. Now that she was hopefully safe, she felt the memories flooding back to her – her dad had shot her! Her dad! How could he do such a thing? He never came back for her either! If it wasn't for Mary, she would have died!

"It's ok," The woman came over and began to comfortingly rub the side of her face, "I promise I'll save you, shh. It's ok..."

For some reason, the witch's words did reassure her, despite the fact that a witch had been what had put her in this predicament in the first place. Mary was different – she sensed no malice from the woman, and instead she could feel both pity and a genuine concern for her. The most Ellen did for her was force her to drink something that burned her throat and made her unable to even talk... She tried to prevent her cries from being heard, but was unable to do so, since the emotions she was feeling was so powerful.

"Whatever did this to you must have been very traumatizing." The woman mumbled, "Don't worry, I'll help you in any way I can. Please, just relax, and try not to think about it. Also I'm going to need you to drink several potions."

Viola did as was asked of her, and she felt another bottle being pressed against her lips, and she eagerly opened her lips and allowed the liquid to flow down her burned throat, and she again felt the soothing coolness of the healing potion that she had been drinking all day.

"Ok, now I'm going to start to try and fix you up. This next potion is going to knock you unconscious, are you prepared for that?"

Viola started to shake when the woman said that, "N – no..."

"I'm sorry dear," The witch reached over and began to rub the side of her head, "I know you're afraid. It's common for people to be afraid of things they can't see. I promise you that you WILL wake up again. I promise that I'll save you."

Viola nodded slowly. For some reason. She trusted this person.

"Thank you," Mary stated sincerely, "I'm going to give you another healing potion first, and then I'll give you the one that will let you rest, are you ready?"

Viola nodded again, "R- ready..."

Mary didn't wait for another confirmation, only reaching forth and pressing a potion to Viola's mouth, which the girl drank, and then after that one almost immediately another potion was pressed to her lips, which Viola again drank. With that one, she could feel herself growing more and more tired, and she couldn't help but start to shake.

"It's ok." She heard the witch talking from her right, "I promise, you'll be fine."

Her voice grew more and more distant, until finally it was no more. Viola had lost consciousness.

XxXxXxX

"Daddy! Please, don't leave me!" She screamed, watching the man walking away with Ellen beside him, the girl's purple hair swaying as she glanced back and started to laugh at her pitiful state.

"I promise, I'll take good care of him!" Ellen said, her golden eyes filled with mirth, "Thank you for giving me this chance!"

The two walked away, leaving her to die n the middle of the clearing of trees. She looked around at all the trees, standing tall, their shadows casting on the ground menacingly. She went to take a few steps back, but realized that her legs were gone! She shadows grew longer and longer, seemingly reaching over to her, and she saw evil lurking in the shadows, monsters smiling at her with their sharp teeth and grotesque bodies. She knew that if the shadows reached her, she would die! She tried to crawl away, but it was no use. She looked away, unable to watch her death come.

"Wake up!"

Viola's eyes opened, but she quickly closed them, since the light blinded her. She let out a startled gasp as she felt around the bed, and started to scream when she felt arms restraining her to the bed.

"Let me go!" She screamed.

"Calm down!" She heard a woman saying, "It's ok! You were having a nightmare! It's ok!"

Viola calmed down her intense breathing, and finally opened her eyes again, squinting as the bright light again poured into her vision. Where was she? What was going on? She looked around the room, and realized that she was in a bed situated against the wall in the middle of the room, and all around her she saw many drawers, some opened up, with their contents scattered about. She saw plenty of bottles scattered all over the tops of the dressers and counter tops all over the room, and even saw a few towels gathered on the floor, the crimson color of blood painting them.

"Who are you?" Viola asked.

"I'm Mary." She answered. Viola took a good look at the girl before her. She had light violet hair and bright red eyes, and wore a green dress. The woman seemed to be in her early thirties at the very least, and was actually not all that bad looking. She could see some stains in the green dress though, which looked an awful lot like blood, and the woman herself looked exhausted.

"Why am I here?"

"You don't remember?" Mary asked, her eyebrow raising in surprise.

"I remember..." Viola looked at the ceiling intently, "My friend... Ellen..."

Mary watched as horror and realization suddenly dawned on the girl's face, and the girl suddenly sat up, her eyes blinking as she looked down at her body. She was still wearing the clothes that she had on the previous day, dirty as they were, and she was still missing her legs, but her eyes were back! And she could talk with no problems anymore! She reached up and grabbed a stray bit of her hair and put it in her vision, she frowned when she noticed the color, and she looked over at Mary.

"Do you have a mirror?" She asked.

Mary nodded, "I do. You have very pretty eyes." She smiled, trying to sound reassuring as she stood up and went over to one of the desks in the room and came back with a hand mirror.

Viola grabbed it immediately when the girl offered it to her, and she looked directly into it, examining her face. Her hand began to shake violently, her breathing picked up, and she started to hyperventilate as she dropped the mirror, and covered her eyes with her hands, "No, no, no, no!"

"Wha – What's wrong?" Mary asked, startled by the girl's reaction.

"I – I'm still in her body!" She cried.

"What?" Mary gasped out, "In her body? You mean..."

She nodded, "This is Ellen's body!"

"Your friend?" Mary asked, sounding startled.

"My friend?" Viola spat out, "She's not my friend!"

"Then..." Mary covered her mouth in horror, "Ellen, she switched bodies with you... When she was like that?"

"She did it to herself!" Viola screamed, "Then she made me drink some stupid potion that made me unable to talk!" She let out a aggravated wail, "My voice sounds just like hers too! I'm her! No! She stole everything from me!"

"Switching bodies..." Mary whispered, "That's demonic magic."

Viola continued to cry, "Why did this happen to me? Why..."

Mary reached forward and wrapped her arms around the girl, but wasn't sure what else to do or say. She couldn't tell the girl that things would be ok, since things surely wouldn't be for the girl. It wasn't a hyperbole to say that her entire life had just been drastically changed.

Viola had wrapped her arms around the woman, and continued to cry in her shoulder, and soon she was out of tears, she looked at Mary and sincerely said, "Thank you... You've been kind to me the entire time."

"It's the least I could do." Mary answered, "Would you be willing to tell me your name now?"

"Well..." Viola bit her bottom lip and looked aside, "This body is Ellen..."

"Not the body's name," Mary said shaking her head, "What is your name?"

"Viola." She answered.

"Viola," Mary tried it out, "That's a very cute name." She smiled brightly at the girl.

Viola blushed, "Thank you..."

"Let's clean you up." Mary broke the silence as she stood up, trying to get the girl to calm down for the time being, "I need to clean the sheets too, since they're so messy."

"Um..." Viola looked down at her missing limbs, "What is going to happen with her legs?"

"Her legs?" Mary asked.

"It's not my body." Viola answered.

Mary couldn't help but allow a pained expression to cross her face, wincing as the girl said that, "V – Viola..." She started, "You're... You're probably going to be stuck in that body for the rest of your life."

Viola was silent.

"Viola?"

"Oh." She mumbled, "I see." It was clear that the girl didn't. She was probably still in a state of shock at everything that had happened to her, and probably would be for a very long while. She shoved the thought aside and again asked, "So... m – my..." Tears dropped from her eyes at the acknowledgment, "My legs. Are they going to be gone forever?"

"No." Mary said, her heart going out to the girl, "I can fix them."

"E – Ellen..." She felt warm tears coming down faster, "Well... Me now... This body has been sick since childhood... She told me that she was going to die soon..."

"What?" Mary said as she blinked in surprise, "No. I didn't detect any diseases as I worked on you."

"Wait... What?" Viola looked up, her golden eyes widening as her mouth dropped open.

"Your body is fine." Mary repeated.

"But... But..." Viola gasped out, "That is why I – I agreed..."

"You agreed to switch?" Mary crossed her arms as she looked down at the girl laying down in the bed. She didn't say anything more, not wanting to come across as condescending to the girl, despite the fact that she thought it was a very stupid thing to do.

"She said for just one day!" Viola said, "I – I didn't want to at first..."

"But you felt sorry for her." Mary finished.

"Yes!" Viola shook her head, "She was sick! She wanted to run around like a normal girl! So – So I thought I'd give her that chance!"

"Then... How did you end up like how I found you?"

"Before we switched..." Viola cried, covering her eyes, "She cut off her legs, and stabbed out her eyes... She never intended to give me my body back! Then... When I was chasing her... D – daddy came and..." She shivered as she reached up to her shoulder.

Mary couldn't help but gasp in realization, and she quickly reach forth to the girl and wrap her arms around her, again feeling immensely bad for her, "I'm so sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for." Viola mumbled, "But... Thank you again."

Mary hesitantly spoke, "Well... Let's go get you cleaned up. Are you ok with that? You can decide what to do once I'm done treating you."

Viola nodded, "Ok." She allowed the older woman to pick her up, and she quickly wrapped her arms around the woman's chest like before. This time though, she was in considerably less amounts of pain, and she could see where they were going. When they got into the hallway, Viola looked around as the two then entered the bathroom, where Mary gently set Viola down on the edge of the tub.

"We need to get your clothes off," Mary told the girl, and the older woman assisted the young girl in taking off her bloody, and dirt covered red dress. Viola blushed faintly as she got completely naked, and didn't look down at her body, since it wasn't really hers, or at least, it still didn't feel like her own. Ellen had matured a little earlier than she had apparently, and it was clear that she was going to grow up to be a very beautiful woman. "You're so cute when you blush like that!" Mary couldn't help but crack.

"I – I can clean myself!" Viola said indigently, "Thank you for your help, but I – I'm fine!"

Mary let out a laugh, "Fine, fine. Just call me when you're ready to get out!"

Viola let out a sigh when the older woman left, but she couldn't help but smile fondly at the door. The woman was very kind and understanding. Her smile disappeared as she looked down at her body in a mixture of disgust, interest, and wonder. If what Mary had said earlier was true... Then this would be her body for the rest of her life. She reached up and touched the scar where she had been shot on her shoulder, and her lips began to tremble.

"Daddy..." She mumbled out, feeling hot tears forming at her eyes. She quickly shook her head, trying to get the thoughts out of her head. She didn't want to think of that for now. Instead, she focused on how soothing the warm water was against her body, and she couldn't help but relax and allow her mind to empty as she leaned back against the wall of the tub, unconsciously playing with her much longer purple hair as it floated in the water.

She finally let out a small groan and began to lather her whole body in soap, being sure to tenderly clean the stubs on her legs, the spot was one of the few places on her body that still really hurt. Mary had promised her that she would fix them, and she couldn't help but look forward to walking again.

Inevitably her mind wandered to the memories of her near death, and how horrendous the experience was. "Why would she do that?" She wondered.

It was then that a stray memory came up in her head. One of her – no, not her, Ellen – watching in glee as a demonic figure ripped her parents apart in their bedroom late at night. Her mother was screaming in horror as the demon smashed her father's skull, and she felt the immense amount of glee and amusement from the memory. Ellen had wanted that? But why? She shook her head, trying to get the memory to leave her, but she still felt sick to her stomach.

"What was that?" She cried.

"Viola?" Mary knocked on the door, "Are you ok?"

"Uh..." Viola prevented herself from saying 'no', and instead said, "I – I think I just saw a memory from Ellen! What happened?"

Mary opened the door, stepping in and giving Viola what she hoped was a reassuring look, "Well... When you switch bodies, you basically switch lives almost. She got all of your memories prior to the switch, and vice versa."

"So..." Viola gritted her teeth, "She... She murdered her parents..."

Mary frowned, "Murdered?"

"I always wondered why she had no parents around, but I never wanted to ask because I thought it would be uncomfortable for her... She..." She closed her eyes, sifting through the second set of memories she had, "She hated them... She wanted them to die. So she made a pact with a demon to kill them..." She continued going through the foreign memories, "It taught her a spell to make her pain go away – The spell she used on me!" She looked up, "I know how to switch back!"

"Viola..." Mary mumbled, "You shouldn't."

"And why not?" Viola asked, "Sh – She thinks she can get away with this? With trying to kill me and taking my life?"

"In order to do so, you'll have to make a pact with a demon." Mary said.

"So what?" Viola cried, "I want my life back!"

"The price for working together with a demon is too high." Mary explained, "If you make a pact with a demon and it gives you what you wish for, then after death your soul is devoured by the demon."

"Wh – what?"

"Your friend paid a terrible price for what she had done." She shook her head, "Instead of allowing fate to take its course and die, allowing her to be reincarnated, she decided she wanted to be happy now, and damned her soul to eternal death."

"But... She wasn't sick, according to you." Viola said, "Why would she do this?"

"I don't know." Mary answered. Viola was silent, and nearly jumped when she felt Mary reach forward and touch her shoulder, "Come on, let's get something to eat. After that I'll focus on fixing your legs. If all goes well, you should be able to walk tomorrow."

"But what should I do?" Viola asked, trying not to cry.

Mary rubbed her back soothingly, "If you want, you can stay with me as long as you need to."

Viola smiled faintly, despite her tears, "Thank you."

With that, Mary helped the girl out of the tub, and into a set of pajamas that she had. They were a little large on the little girl, but not enough that they would just fall off. She then helped the girl get the knots out of her hair, and dry it out, and finally the two made their way downstairs, Viola again in Mary's arms. Viola looked around the house – it was a very nice place, modern looking and it was clear that Mary took very good care of the place.

Once they were down the stairs, Mary immediately turned right and walked into the kitchen, where she set Viola down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"I hope you're fine with soup," Mary said as she went over to the stove, "I'm not an amazing cook by any means, but my homemade soup is fantastic, if I do say so myself!" Mary lifted the top of the pot she had on the stove, and put in some salt and pepper to the soup, and then she looked over at Viola, who was curiously watching her, "Do you like to cook?"

"I do." Viola answered, and smiled, "I always cook for daddy and I. He's so bad at cooking that the last time he..." She paused, and started to frown, her lips trembled, "He..."

"I'm sorry." Mary said quickly, "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No," Viola shook her head, "You didn't know."

After that, both girls were fairly subdued, neither really saying much at all. Mary was focusing on the soup, while Viola was doing everything in her power to NOT think about the past and what had happened to her, and instead found herself looking around the house. There was a cabinet to the left of the table filled with very expensive looking dishes. She looked out the window over by the front door, and saw that there was a car parked neatly outside, and there were trees – lots of trees everywhere.

"Do you live alone?"

"Well, I'm married, but my husband is away right now, so yes, I guess I'm living alone right now," Mary answered, "No neighbors either. It's a pretty quiet place."

"My dad talked to me about a rumor of a witch being in the woods..."

Mary chuckled at that, "Oh, that silly rumor? Someone started that almost ten years ago, when I first moved here. Though I suppose in my case it's true."

Viola looked up, "I thought it was referring to Ellen."

Mary sighed, "I'm sorry for making you think about that."

"It's not your fault." Viola shook her head, consciously avoiding looking at her purple hair as it came into her vision, "It's just natural for me to think about it..."

"I know," Mary answered, "I just wish there was some other way for me to help..."

Viola couldn't help but smile at the woman's sincerity, "Is the soup done yet?"

"Ah, yes, it is!" Mary grinned, glad that the girl wasn't dwelling too much on her memories for now. Dinner was also a very quiet affair, and Viola found herself growing tired after she was done eating. Mary had apparently caught on, and the older woman brought her up to her room without a word, and put the girl down on the bed again.

"I'm going to give you a bunch of potions again," She said from her position at the side of the bed. Viola was able to notice that there were at least ten different vials of potions on the nightstand table beside the bed, each liquid was a different color, "I'm going to make you drink a dreamless potion too, so you don't have nightmares."

"Thank you." Viola sighed, feeling relief.

"I should have made you have that one yesterday too," Mary mumbled to herself, "Oh well, you'll be fine this night!"

Viola nodded, and took the potions as they were brought to her mouth, one after another. Soon, she felt herself growing tired, and her eyes closed.

She found her thoughts drifting off to what Mary had said earlier that day – that Ellen hadn't been sick. Why would the girl switch bodies if she wasn't sick? Didn't Ellen know that she was fine? Why would she want to make a pact with a demon despite the massive consequences that it would cause? Why did she murder her parents?

As her thoughts grew fainter, she at least knew one thing.

She wanted to get revenge on Ellen, no matter what.

XxXxXxX

The next morning came quickly, and Viola opened her eyes to look at the ceiling. Blinking a few times as the sunlight filtered into her room, she sat up, and noticed that Mary was again there, but this time the woman was sleeping in the chair beside her bed, lightly snoring. Viola removed the blanket covering her body, and couldn't help but let out a cheer when she saw that she now had legs! She had no idea how Mary had done it, but the witch had completely repaired the body she was in.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and went to stand up. However, her legs seem to give up when she put just a little bit of weight on them, and she collapsed to the floor with a loud bang.

"Wha?!" Mary shot up from her seat, looking all around, and then finally to the floor where Viola had fallen, "Viola! Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Viola groaned.

Mary quickly helped the girl up onto her bed, where she sat on the edge, "You JUST got those legs back! You need to slowly adjust to them. They won't be able to take all of your weight at first!"

"So... How do I get them to work?"

"Here, just lean on my shoulder." Mary said, offering her shoulder to Viola, who gratefully wrapped an arm around the older woman's neck and stood once more. She was able to put a little bit of pressure on her legs, but there was no way she'd be able to walk for a little while. Mary started to walk around the room holding tightly onto Viola, allowing the girl to get used to the motion of walking and getting her legs used to the pressure.

"How long will this take?" Viola asked.

"Eager to leave?" Mary asked jokingly.

Viola frowned, her joy having been tempered by the question, "I – I want to know why she did it..."

"Switched bodies with you?" Mary whispered.

"Yes." Viola nodded, and reaching up with her free hand and getting the purple hair out of her face, "I need to know why she would switch bodies with me despite the fact that she wasn't ill."

"What do her memories say about it?"

"That's the thing." Viola said, "In her memories, she is absolutely certain that she is sick and going to die... I can recall her helplessness and hatred at the situation. She felt that her parents didn't care for her at all and that they deserved to die because of it. When she met the demon her body was wasting away, and she needed to do something to stop it, and the demon gave her an out..." She shook her head, "She was absolutely certain that she was going to die."

"Odd." The woman mumbled, "What do you intend to do?"

"I – I'm going back to her house." She shivered at the mere thought of doing as much, "Maybe I can find some clues."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Mary asked.

"No." Viola shook her head, "This is something I have to do myself."

Mary nodded, "If you say so. I'll be here if you ever need help, just so you know. I'll be waiting for you."

Viola nodded, "Thank you."

"I have one request though..."

"What's that?" Viola asked.

"Don't seek revenge for what she has done."

"What?" Viola gasped, "She stole my entire life! You know what she has done! You saw what she did to me! Why shouldn't I go after her?!"

"I know it's hard to hear, but please, listen to me."

"I'm listening." Viola allowed.

"She took your body, and your entire life." She saw Viola wince at the truth, "For all intents and purposes, she IS you now. If you go to her, and if you do something to her, how would your – her – father react to it? How would her friends react? How would the media react? As far as the rest of the world is concerned, magic doesn't exist, and you'll just come across as insane if you try to explain things to them as you have to me."

"But..." Viola shook, "What she did is wrong! She..."

"I know." Mary said, "I know how much you hate her for it, and believe me, I hate her just as strongly for doing it, but there's nothing you can do."

"So what?" Viola ask, glaring up at Mary, pushing the woman aside, and shakily standing on her two legs, "You want me to just let her get away with it?"

Mary let out a sigh, "Is there anything else you could do?"

"I can contact a demon! Make a pact with it and take my place where I belong!"

"I told you last night what the price of a demon is!" Mary said, looking visibly distraught, "Please don't throw your life away!"

"My life? I don't have a life anymore!"

"That's not true," Mary shook her head, "I mended that broken and battered body – you can go on and do whatever you wish to do now!"

"And I want to kill Ellen!" She screamed, "I'm going to kill her!"

Mary was silent, and simply shook her head, "Is that your choice?"

Viola was raggedly breathing, but she took a quick deep breath, "I – I so want to say yes." She admitted, "I want to go after her, and strangle her! She... She..." She closed her eyes and wiped away her tears of anger, "But... I'm going to give her a chance... I'm going back to her house, and I will find out why she thought she was sick, and see if her parents were really so despicable that murdering them was justified. I want to see proof that contacting a demon and stealing my body was really her last hope for living."

"Can't you just look through her memories?"

"Her memory is probably biased. I haven't lived in her shoes, and I doubt I really ever want to, but you should know that all memories are painted in the image of those who created them."

"I'm aware of that," Mary nodded, "So you'll seek proof, and then what?"

"I don't know..." Viola answered, her anger from earlier withering, "I – I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"It's understandable, given your position." Mary said, "But I stand by what I said. I don't want you to go after her. You should leave it be, and try to live with the second chance that I've given you."

"I – I don't think I'll be able to do that." Viola whispered, "But thank you for believing that I can."

Mary shook her, "Very well. Do as you wish." She let out a deep sigh, and replaced her sad frown with an obviously fake smile, "Well, I'm not quite done treating you yet! Come on, I'm impressed that you managed to stand on your own this long, but if you try to take a step I bet you'll fall!"

Viola nodded, "Y – yeah..." She allowed the woman to come over and take hold of her again, and the two went out of the room and down the stairs to eat breakfast.

The rest of the day was simply a series of exercises for Viola to get used to walking on her mended legs, going out in the woods around the house with Mary, and walking around in the yard. Later that night, Viola again took a bath by herself, refusing to look into the mirror, and again avoided looking at her body as much as possible as she began to clean herself. Afterwards, she had a quick dinner, and went back to bed in the guest room that Mary had given her to use for now.

"Here," Mary handed Viola a few colored drinks for the night, "Another dreamless sleep potion, and another healing potion, just in case."

"Thank you," Viola said, gulping down both potions immediately.

"It's no problem, dear." Mary answered, setting aside the vials that Viola handed back to her.

"If it weren't for you, I'd be dead." Viola muttered, "So... Thank you for everything."

"It's the least I can do for you," She assured her, "There's no way I would have left you to die back there."

Viola smiled, but it quickly went away as she said, "I – I'm going back tomorrow."

Mary didn't react, probably already having deduced as much earlier, "I see."

"Can you lead me back to where you found me?"

"I can." Mary said, and a silence reigned between the two of them. "Are you sure?" Mary finally asked, before things got too awkward.

"Yes, I'm sure." Viola nodded.

"I'll wait outside of the building for you," Mary decided, "And I won't take no for an answer."

Viola smiled, "Thank you for caring for me."

"Like I said, It's the least I can do for you."

With that, Mary left the room, leaving Viola to rest. Unfortunately, her mind continued to wander about what she may find. She continued to remember Ellen's past, and she couldn't stop remembering the moment when she begged her father for help, and only got shot in return. She shifted from side to side, trying to push aside the thoughts and memories, and instead focused on her objective.

Tomorrow she would learn the truth, one way or another.


	2. My Discovery

My Discovery

That morning the two girls got ready immediately upon waking up. Mary again donned her green dress, and she helped Viola pick a new non-blood stained dress, eventually settling upon a green sundress that Mary used when she was younger, since it was one of the few outfits that actually fit her. She looked over to the red-eyed girl who was combing the knots out of her purple hair, and decided to ask, "Why do you like green so much?"

Mary shrugged, "I've like the color ever since I was young."

"That's it?" Viola asked.

"There is a bit more to the story, but it would take a long time to explain." Mary chuckled, and pulled at a particularly stubborn knot, "Oh, sorry!"

Viola felt tears at the corners of her eyes from that, but blinked a few times to rid them, "Ah – It's ok. I wasn't sure what I was expecting really. You're a witch, so I figured you might have some magical reason or something."

"There's nothing magical about my liking of the color green! I'm sorry to disappoint!" Mary said with a laugh, and continued to comb Viola's hair.

After that, the two had a quick breakfast, and it was again quiet. Mary would glance worriedly at Viola occasionally, but Viola just ignored it, thinking about what she would be doing once she left. A little bit after eating, the two got some shoes on, and went out the front door.

The walk through the sunlit woods was very silent, both of them lost in their thoughts. Viola's mind kept replaying the events she had gone through up until now, and it wouldn't stop at all. She almost wanted to just turn back and run away, but she couldn't do that, she had to know. There had to be a reason that Ellen would be so willing to make a pact with a demon and kill her friend. However, the longer it took to walk to the place, the more and more she began to shake.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Mary asked as she placed her hand on Viola's shoulder.

"I'm sure." She nodded, "I – I'm just really nervous. I don't know if I'll find anything worthwhile."

"It'll be fine," Mary remarked, giving Viola's shoulder a light squeeze as she let go and continued to lead the two of them through the woods, avoiding the occasional twigs and bushes her and there. Viola looked around – she hadn't realized that Mary had walked so far out of the way. The woman must have been incredibly strong if she had carried her all this way back to her house.

She heard Mary let out a gasp, and the two finally appeared out in an opening.

"This is where I found you." Mary whispered to Viola, pointing to a particular spot on the ground.

Viola didn't know how she'd react to seeing where her mutilated body was lying only a few days ago, but she didn't expect to suddenly throw up as she noticed the dried blood on the grass where she had forcibly dragged herself to chase Ellen. She coughed up the rest of her breakfast, and blinked, getting the tears out of her eyes as she again looked up. Mary was silent, just patting her back as she continued to cough.

"I'm sorry," Viola muttered, "I didn't think I'd react like that..."

"It's fine." Mary answered.

Viola slowly went over to the spot, her legs shaking as she did so. Finally, she stood exactly where she was lying down, and then turned to face where she knew her father and Ellen had been standing. Her father was right there with his shotgun, and Ellen in her body, putting on an act of looking scared so her dad would actually shoot her! Viola reached up to press her hand where her scar was on her shoulder, her thoughts spiraling further and further downward.

"Viola." Mary called.

She snapped out of her thoughts, "Thank you..." She mumbled, looking away from the spot and turning over to Mary, "That's where my dad stood when he... shot me."

"I see." Mary muttered, "I don't understand why he'd do it though."

"He thought I was a monster." Viola whispered, "He couldn't tell that it was me, even though I was calling out to him, asking him for help..."

Mary was silent, and only watched as Viola quickly recomposed herself, and glanced back over to her, "I want to go to the house now. Standing here is doing me no good."

"Ok." Mary nodded, "It's this way."

"I know," Viola said, "I used to come here a lot..."

With that said, the two walked down the path towards the house, and soon they came across a very large house, easily ten times larger than Mary's humble home, maybe even larger. Mary couldn't help but look up and let out a whistle at the massive size of the place. Viola instead looked down at the path of blood on the floor, and shuddered again at the memory, of the pain that she was in when she was desperately chasing after Ellen, hoping to get her body back and to be relieved of the horrible pain she was in.

"I'm going in now." Viola said, looking up at Mary, "Don't come in after me."

"I know," Mary answered, "You told me that last night. I'll be right out here if you need me. I promise."

"Thank you for everything." Viola tried to smile at the woman, but there was little for her to be smiling about. Instead she nodded at her.

"It's the least I could do," Mary repeated, "I hope you find the answers you seek in there."

"Me too." Viola said, "I'll be back."

Mary nodded, and watched as the purple haired youth stepped through the front doors of the building. The doors closed behind her with a loud bang, and Mary couldn't help but shake her head.

"I hope she comes to understand that any ideas of revenge are futile." She shook her head and frowned, "Trying to teach a thirteen year old child that is an effort in futility though... They must come to that conclusion themselves, before they'll truly believe in it."

XxXxXxX

She wasn't entirely sure what to expect upon entering the house, but other than the doors closing behind her without her input, the house didn't seem too bad. At the entry way she took off her shoes, being sure to avoid stepping in the dried blood on the floor, and reached for the light switch, letting out a pleased sigh when the power actually worked. She could vaguely recall in her time of pain when she somehow was able to force the power to stay off, but whatever power she had then had long ago left her.

With the light on, she blinked a few times – the house seemed a bit different than she remembered now. The paths had changed – again, she believed it had something to do with the power she had wielded in her attempt to get her own body back. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the memories of her pain, and she instead started to walk to the left, following the blood trail she had painted on the ground with her legs several days ago.

She felt her stomach heaving once more, and she quickly took a few deep breaths.

"I'm fine now," She repeated over and over, and finally she opened her eyes. Sensing that she wasn't about to throw up, she continued onward, being sure to avoid looking at the blood any longer, and soon she entered a very large dining room, where an absolutely massive table was set up neatly in the middle of the room, with plates and candles all out and set up, as if a feast was going to occur at any moment. At the far end of the table was a fireplace, and all around the walls of the room were paintings and creepy looking suits of armor.

Seeing this place triggered a memory from Ellen, during her childhood, when the girl was no more than six years old. She didn't know why, but standing there made the memory much more vivid, and she allowed it to overflow her consciousness.

XxXxXxX

"Ellen," An older woman with long purple hair and eyes of the same color said as she adjusted the cute little dress her daughter was wearing, "Make sure to behave for the guests, all right?"

The two of them were in the little girl's room. There was a bed in a corner, a desk beside it, and a dresser beside that. Ellen and her mother were both currently on the opposite side of the bed, where Ellen's closet and a large mirror were.

"I don't like these parties..." Ellen whined as her mother began to comb her hair, "They're boring."

"Come now," Her mother said lightly, "They're not that bad, are they?"

Ellen frowned, but said nothing.

"How are you feeling?" Her mother asked.

Ellen knew she was referring to her illness, so she said honestly, "I'm feeling fine right now, mommy."

"That's good," Her mother smiled, "But you ought to take your pills before going downstairs and meeting the guests, just in case."

Ellen nodded, "Ok."

Her mother was more than prepared, and pulled out a bottle of pills from her pocket, and took two out and handed them to her daughter, "Do you need some water?"

"No," Ellen shook her head. The girl had long ago gotten used to swallowing them dry, and did so with absolutely no problems.

Her mother smiled as gave the girl a pat on the head, and she finally stood up from her crouch, finally satisfied with how her daughter looked.

"Are you almost done, Natasha?" A man asked as he walked into the room, wearing a very formal suit, adjusting his tie as he walked in. The man had brown hair, but most interestingly he had gold colored eyes. He gave Ellen a quick look before turning his gaze back to his wife.

"We just finished," Natasha said, looking to her daughter, "How does she look?"

"Fine," The man said, not even glancing at her, "Did she take her pills?"

"Yes, she did." Natasha smiled, patting the girl on the head again, "Are you ready to go?"

Ellen nodded, and stood up, gripping her mother's hand as she led her out of the room, following quickly behind her father. He strode down the stairs quickly, and Ellen started to lose her breath as she tried to keep up with her parents quick pace, and she couldn't help but feel a bit of relief when she got to the bottom of the stairs, and they went into the large dining room.

There were already a large amount of people scattered around the room. The staff of the mansion was busy bustling themselves about as they helped those all around the room, serving those sitting at the table and refilling wine glasses. Several people were gathered at the table eating, while a majority were standing around in groups of three or four all around the large and lavished room, a glass of wine in their hands as they talked quietly among themselves.

"Ah, Eric." One of the well dressed men came forward and addressed Ellen's father, "You're finally here."

"I'm sorry," Eric apologized quickly, "I had to make sure my daughter was all right."

"Ah, your daughter." The man spoke, glancing down at the purple haired child, "I'm so sorry to hear that her illness has gotten worse."

Eric smiled at the sympathy, but waved it off, "I'm sure she'll recover soon..." His eyes averted in worry however as he said that.

The other man picked up on it however, and raised a brow, but didn't say more. Meanwhile, Ellen was taken around the room to the groups of people to introduce herself, again, to them all. She did as her mother had made her rehearse time and time again, she would bow, politely tell them her name, and then stand there as her mother would talk to them.

"I'm so sorry to hear about her illness."

That was the most common thing they would say, and Ellen slowly started to hate it. These people... They hardly cared. All they cared about was their image, since they were invited to a party that her parents threw. She had no clue about her mom or dad's occupation, but she at least knew it was for some big company, especially since so many people came to these parties.

"Ellen, is it?" An older gentleman asked as he walked into her vision.

"That's me," Ellen politely bowed to him.

"I've heard about your illness." The man said, "And I just want you to know, you're very strong. You remind me of my own daughter, and I'm sure that if they saw you right now, they'd be inspired to behave as well as you do, and do as well as you do in school."

Ellen wanted to roll her eyes - she wished she could go to a real school, instead of having one of the staff members teach things to her, but instead she smiled, "Thank you."

"I ought to go now," The man said, looking at his watch, "Good luck." He gave her a quick and rough pat on the head, and made his way out.

Ellen wandered the floor now, bored out of her mind, and just tried to stay out of people's way. Whenever someone confronted her, she did as her mother told her to do. She noticed across the room that her mother was wiping her eye as she was talking, and she made her way over.

"I – It's hard..." Her mother cried.

"She's a very strong little girl, she'll make it..." One of the men in the group standing around her stated.

"You're too kind." The woman said with a smile, wiping her eyes, gently enough so it wouldn't ruin her make up.

Ellen frowned sadly at the sight – her mother did at least play with her, and she knew her mother cared for her - why wouldn't she? However, it seemed lately that her mother was growing more and more distant. She almost wanted to cry, since the woman had slowly began to ignore her, and instead would focus on her work. She must have looked liked she was about to cry, because an overly well dressed woman came over to her.

"What's wrong?" She asked soothingly, "Are you feeling fine?"

"I - " Ellen didn't get to finish her sentence, since the moment she opened her mouth to talk, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach, and she collapsed to the floor, emptying the contents of her stomach.

"Help!" The woman had called out, and Ellen watched as a large group of people gathered around her. This is why she hated her illness... She would always seem fine, but then it would hit her instantly like this, making her feel really bad.

"M – mom..." She mumbled.

"Right here..." The woman said, wrapping her arms around her daughter, "Are you feeling better?"

She shook her head, feeling too sick to do much else.

"Come on, I'll take you to bed." Her mother picked her up, and Ellen watched as the staff began to clean up the mess she made. She turned her head, and saw her father watching her with his piercing gold eyes, as she was taken out of the room by her worried mother. She didn't see worry in his face, instead all she saw was indifference. She felt another bout of sickness hitting her, and she closed her eyes tightly as she gritted her teeth, trying to keep it down.

XxXxXxX

Viola opened her eyes and shook her head. That had been far more vivid than she expected, and she felt a little nausea from the experience. She walked over to the table, and took a seat on one of the chairs scattered around.

"Her dad seemed to not care, but why does she hate her mother? She seemed to at least worry about her, and took her up to her room when she got sick. I still don't understand why she resorted to murdering them..." She sifted through Ellen's memories again, and it DID seem that Natasha did start to grow more and more distant with her from that point on for some odd reason.

"Maybe if I explore more, I can experience more of those." She decided, "It's as if the house itself remembers these..." She mumbled, looking up around the house, but nothing changed.

Shaking her head at the absurd thought, she finally stood back up. If she wanted to have more memories like that, then she was going to need to explore the whole household. She turned around and pushed her chair in, needless as it was, and then she started to walk down the length of the table towards the fireplace. The right and left there were some doors. She vaguely remembered through the left door was the kitchen, so she decided to take a right, which led to another long hallway, where she finally took another door to her left.

Through this door was another large room with yet another fireplace, and this time instead of the room being a gigantic dining room, it was instead a living room. She closed the door behind herself, and switched on the lights, revealing that there were several very large bookshelves filled nearly to the brim with books scattered all along the walls. She walked towards one of the shelves near the fireplace, and reached forward, pulling one of the books out of the shelf, and started to cough at the amount of dust that doing that had produced.

"These haven't been touched in years," She quickly deduced as she took the book and flipped it over to read the front, "Edgar Allan Poe." She mumbled, "Figures that a place like this would have his books lying around..." She mumbled. She settled the book down on a nearby chair at the fireplace, and looked at the mantle above the fireplace, and noticed that there were pictures hanging there.

"These must be of Ellen," She whispered as she picked up the nearest frame, depicting a young girl who was just four years old, smiling widely at the camera and waving her waves in joy. All the other pictures were similar to that, "Where are the pictures of her mom and dad?" She wondered as she looked along the length of the mantle, realizing that they were only displaying Ellen from when she was a child to about two years ago. The only other thing in the photos was a black cat starting from when she was about seven years old.

She put the picture back and sat down in the chair she had set down the book by Poe down, and then she felt another memory coming to the forefront of her mind. Like before, she didn't fight it, and instead allowed it to take up her whole head, and she immersed herself in yet another memory of Ellen, from when she was a child.

XxXxXxX

"I'm bored." Ellen moaned, the seven year old walked over near the fireplace, where she saw both her mom and dad reading reports and other such things for their companies. Her mom looked very tired, but her father seemed to be putting his all into what he was doing.

"Ellen?" Her mom looked up, "You're out of your room! You you were sick this morning, are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah," Ellen nodded, "I feel better."

"You took your pills, right?" Her father asked, not even looking up from the paper he was reading. He was currently wearing glasses, and his sharp eyes darted from one side of the page to the next quickly – he hardly noticed his daughters presence.

"I did." Ellen answered.

Her mother set aside her paper as she looked at the girl, "I'm sorry dear, but we're both very busy right now. Can't you play in your room?"

Ellen's frown deepened, "But you haven't played with me in forever..."

Her mother visibly withered under her daughter's watery eyes, and she finally sighed, "I'm sorry, I can't do what you want..." She turned to glance over at Eric, giving him a very hard stare. The man ignored it for the most part, "Etic." She said, finally calling attention to him.

He groaned as he looked up, looking very unimpressed, "What."

"Maybe we should get a pet for our dear daughter..." She smiled when she saw the look of pure happiness come across Ellen's face.

"A pet?" The man scoffed, "I'm not going to waste mine or the staff's time with such a frivolous thing." He glared at his wife, "You know why it would be a bad idea."

"Please?" Ellen put her arms together, and did her best impression of a puppy as she looked at her father.

The man spared her only a quick glance, and rolled his eyes, "You'll have to take care of it. I'm not wasting the staff's time with a pet."

"Ok!" Ellen nodded her head in excitement.

"Then go do as you wish." The man said, looking down the report yet again, his eyes began to dart from side to side.

Natasha sighed at her husband's antics, and set her papers aside as she went over to Ellen, "Come on, let's get you dressed."

The two went upstairs to Ellen's room, where Natasha began to prepare her daughter for their time out. In the end, Natasha dressed her daughter up in a cute red dress, and she herself wore simply a blouse and skirt. She smiled as her daughter did a little twirl in the mirror.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Ellen went over to her nightstand, and picked up her pills.

"Oh, don't worry about that." He mother quickly reached forward to the pills and set them back down, "You'll be fine if you don't take them once in a while. You said you already took them earlier today, right?"

"I did!" Ellen smiled, "Can we go now?"

Her mother returned her smile, "Sure."

At the store, Ellen picked out a cute black kitten that she fell in love with at first sight, and her mother had bought it for her immediately. The drive home consisted of Ellen cuddling the critter and claiming how much she was going to take care of him and love him for the rest of her life. Ellen missed the frown her mother had on the whole ride home though, and the woman never once smiled at the store.

The following days were a blur for Ellen, since she now had a brand new friend to play with her. Whenever her mom and dad were busy – which was almost all the time now – she would go seek out her feline friend, and play with her. They would go on adventures throughout the house, and it was clear that the animal was a hit with the staff as well, since they would occasionally feed the cat whenever it came near them.

When she was sick, her pet cat would cuddle up at her feet, falling asleep and keeping an eye out for his loving owner. It had been years since Ellen felt this happy.

The only real downside was that since she had a pet now, it was always an excuse for her parents to continue to ignore her.

They were at the fireplace again, this time simply reading books for enjoyment. Her father was reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and her mother was also reading something, Ellen couldn't see the title, and didn't really care that much.

"Play with me!" She said, running up to her mother's lap and putting her arms across it.

"Dear..." Her mother looked wearily down at her, "Please, not now."

"But you never play with me anymore..." Ellen mumbled.

"Don't you have that cat to play with?" Her father asked, giving her an annoyed glance, "Go mess around with that thing. That's the whole purpose for buying it in the first place."

"But I wanna play with mommy..." She whined, "I love you!"

Her mother visibly shuddered when the girl said that, and she desperately looked up towards Eric, "Dear... Maybe we should...?"

Ellen frowned then, was her mother just wanting to play with her to get her to leave? She felt tears stinging her eyes, and slowly backed away.

"What did I tell you?" The man said, setting his book down, fury visible in his face for the first time that Ellen could remember, "No!"

"Eric!" She cried, "We – we should -."

"Shut up woman!" He bellowed, he looked over to Ellen, "Go away! Mom and dad are very, very busy right now!"

Ellen backed away in fear at the anger her father was displaying towards her, and she ran out as quickly as her little legs could take her, intending to hide in her room. She could hear shouting behind her, but she couldn't make out the words. She didn't mean to make them fight! She really didn't mean it! She got into her bed, and wrapped her blanket around herself, and began to cry, wishing that she hadn't angered her mom and dad so much.

XxXxXxX

Viola couldn't figure it out. She knew what Ellen's emotions were at the times she had her memories, so she knew that Ellen had interpreted her mother's pleading looks to her dad as hatred for her – her mother just wanted to play with her to just to get her out of the way. Viola could feel the immense amount of hatred that Ellen felt for both of her parents, specifically from the one memory she just lived, but she couldn't help but pity the girl.

It wasn't hatred – her mother was pleading to be able to play with her because she loved her.

"How did she misinterpret that?" She wondered aloud, and then thought back to what she had discussed with Mary the previous day, about how memories were filled with bias. She nodded her head slowly, unconsciously shoving her purple hair aside as it got in her vision, "Whatever is going on, I'm viewing the memories from an objective viewpoint..." She muttered, bringing up the same memory she saw from Ellen's memories, gaining the girl's perspective, and she saw how the other girl had witnessed it. For some reason, Ellen saw hatred, and this was the catalyst for her spiraling hatred for her parents – her dad in particular.

Viola could understand Ellen's hatred for her dad at the very least. The man clearly didn't care for her, and only seem to use her as a trophy to show around. The only problem was that she couldn't figure out WHY he was behaving like that. Why would the man have a child only to completely ignore her and have nothing to do with her?

"I don't understand..." She mumbled, picking up the Edgar Allan book, and she threw it into the unused fireplace, "What a jerk." She leaned back into the chair she was sitting in though, and wondered aloud, "But why murder? What was the final straw that made her decide that killing her parents was the only thing she could do? She seems normal in these memories, other than the fact that she's ill."

"I don't remember a cat being here when I visited..." She mumbled, and she again sifted through Ellen's memories, her eyes widening in horror, "The cat... it died?" She paused, trying to recall from Ellen's memories how it died, and her frown deepen the more she learned. Once the animal had died, it became the body that the demon possessed and used as its avatar in the world. Viola crossed her arms across her chest, seeing how the demon had killed her parents, and then talked to a very happy Ellen about making a deal, and the rest was history.

"These memories must be biased." Viola sighed, "I need to go around and try to find the more places like this one, to try and see an objective view." If she wanted to, she could call it a day. If Ellen's memories were to go by, her parents were the most vile and hateful people around, but she just found an inconsistency between what really happened and Ellen's memories, so it was safe to say there would definitely be more inconsistencies between the memories and what really happened.

Her gaze landed on the fireplace mantle, where only pictures of Ellen stood. She sifted through Ellen's memories, and saw nothing about it. They had apparently always been that way. Ellen either didn't notice, or didn't care, and just left them as they were. "There has to be a reason..." Viola mumbled as she continued to stare.

Finally she stood up, knowing that she had to go find more memories, so to speak. She decided to wander up the stairs on the opposite side of the living room, away from the fireplace. The stairs were creaking a little bit, but not overly loud, just enough to make her cringe with every step. Reaching the top took little time, and she emerged in a familiar hallway. She had walked down here several times whenever she visited Ellen.

She turned the lights on, and the place lit up. The hallway was lined with old pictures and paintings, with none of them depicting family or relatives. Several of the lights in the hall were out or flickering, but it still provided enough light for her to see well enough. If she took a left and went down to the second to last door, that would be Ellen's room, but she decided to go the other way – from Ellen's memories, she knew that her parent's room was the last door at the end of this hallway.

She reached the door at the end of the hallway, the hallway itself ending with a large window beaming in sunlight. She covered her eyes, and reached her free hand down to the doorknob, and frowned when the door wouldn't budge. She tried again with a bit more force, and yet again it wouldn't open. She let out a groan and slammed her body into the door a few times to try and open it, and like every other time, it refused to open.

"I need a key..." She mumbled, sliding down the door and she breathed in and out a few times, "Stupid body... If I was in my own I could do this." She then felt herself chuckle, "Well... Maybe not..." She stood up, giving the door an annoyed glare, and finally decided to go across the hall to Ellen's room, knowing that at least that place wasn't locked.

When she opened the door to Ellen's room, it was as she remembered... Mostly. There were a bunch of papers scattered all over the floor, and the bed was completely messed up, with blood trailing down into a big dried up splatter on the floor, and then a trail leading out into the hallway.

Viola honestly didn't expect her body to convulse when she saw the bed, and she realized immediately that she was having a panic attack. That was where the switch had happened! It was where Ellen forced her to drink that weird potion that destroyed her ability to talk! It was where... She closed her eyes as she fell to her knees, "Calm down!" She screamed to herself, trying to force her breathing to something more regular, gripping her head in her hands as tears came from her eyes.

Eventually did she calm down, and she looked up, the sight of the bed still caused her heart to jump every time she looked at it, but it hopefully wouldn't cause her to have a panic attack now. She wiped away her stray tears, and shakily got back to her feet, using the wall as support.

"I'm an idiot..." She mumbled, "I shouldn't have come in here..."

She walked over to the closet, where there was a cracked mirror, and she looked in, seeing Ellen's – her own – gold eyes staring back at her. This was only the second time she got a good look at her new body, and she hated it. She forcibly shoved the mirror to the ground, shattering it, and again felt another panic attack coming from the image of herself. She had been holding it down for a few days now, but now she was beginning to wonder if she'd be able to live in a new body, and willing give up everything she once had.

"Think about it later..." She whispered to herself, fortunately preventing herself from having a full blown panic attack like last time. She let out a deep breath, and she felt her thoughts beginning to take a darker turn again. Maybe this was a waste of time. There was no way Ellen was justified in what she did to her! In leaving her to die! She wanted that bitch to die! Mary's words came back to her though – to let her thoughts of vengeance go, and her rage subsided for now.

"I need to figure out if she's justified..." She sighed.

She stood up, and looked around the room in full now, and she felt a vivid memory from Ellen's mind. She leaned against the wall, and closed her eyes, allowing the memory to play.

XxXxXxX

Ellen was sitting in her bed, allowing the doctor to check up on her. He did all the typical things, checking her temperature, heart beat, blood pressure, and being sure to check her ears, nose, and throat, and he finally leaned back on the chair he had pulled up the girl's bed, rubbing his chin deep in thought as he watched the little girl give him a a hopeful stare.

"I'm sorry, but I still can't identify what's ailing her," The doctor finally spoke, looking over to Eric as he talked, "The medicine I gave you before had no effect at all?"

"None." Eric said, shaking his head from side to side, worry etched on his face, "It hasn't been years doctor, surely something should have worked by now?"

The doctor glanced to the floor, unable to hide his frown, "I'm sorry."

Eric reached his hand out towards his daughter, and rubbed her hair affectionately, giving her a weary smile, "It's ok, I'm sure they'll figure out something soon, you hear me?"

Ellen smiled, "Yeah!"

The doctor let out a sigh as he pulled out a clipboard, and attached a paper to it, and began to jot down notes, "Well, if what I gave you six months ago did no good, then perhaps this will do..." He mumbled to himself, and then he glanced up, "Here's a prescription note." He nodded politely to Eric, giving him the note, and then he reached into his bag, giving the girl some pills to swallow, "Here, take these for now, and be sure to drink lots of water."

"Ok." Ellen nodded, "I'll do it!"

A few minutes later, the doctor walked out of the room, leaving only Ellen, her cat at the foot of her bed, and her dad. Eric watched the man leave, and his entire demeanor changed, he quickly looked towards Ellen, and sneered, "Are you feeling better?"

Ellen looked down at her covers – her dad was back to the way he usually was. Whenever the doctor visited, or when they had guests over, he was always very nice to her, and she adored those times. It was when they were alone that she began to resent the man, and at the back on her mind, she slowly began to learn that she was beginning to hate him.

"I'm fine." She mumbled, "I feel better than I have in a while."

Her dad nodded, "I'm going to get your prescription, you'll be taking it later tonight. Any questions?"

"None." Ellen muttered, and she watched as her dad walked out of the room, not even giving her a second glance. It had now been almost a year since she got her pet cat, and in that time the eight year old couldn't help but grow to detest her father more and more, despite the books and stories she read claiming that parents were supposed to be nice! Her dad certainly didn't fit into that category at all! He was the one who made her mom stop paying any attention to her... The memory of her mom going out with her to pick out a cat was the last time the woman was even remotely kind to her, and every instance after that the woman would ignore her, and do what her dad wanted.

"I want a real daddy..." She cried to herself, turning onto her side and allowing bitter tears to fall down her face. Her pet cat, as if sensing her tears, came over to her, and began to purr as it rubbed the length of its body across her face, and the girl did smile, "Thank you..." She wrapped her arms around the cat, and pulled him to her, "I love you. You're my only friend."

The cat jumped off her bed, and it wandered out into the hall, so she got up and followed it down the hall, and she noticed that her parent's room door was open, and she heard voices coming from there. Looking to the left and right, making sure there were no staff around, she tip-toed over to the room, and leaned against the wall, listening in to whatever her parents were discussing.

"...I – I don't know." Natasha said, sitting on their bed, looking down at her feet, "I – Is this right?"

"Is this right?" Eric asked, his golden eyes glaring at the woman, "She's our child!"

"That's only an excuse!" Natasha cried, "Even if she's our child, we should be doing everything to help her!"

The man rolled his eyes, "Oh please, you're going along with it just as much as I am. Don't you dare take the moral high ground."

"I – I am..." She mumbled.

"Good. Now then, I'm going to go get this prescription so that -" He glanced up at the door, where the car that Ellen got came in mewling loudly, "Get that damn thing out of here!"

"Yes dear..." The woman shooed it out of the room, and closed the door.

"I don't understand why we bothered to get her such a thing." Ellen heard her dad say through the closed door, "It's a pest!"

"We did it for Ellen."

"Like I care what she wants." He growled.

"She's your daughter!"

Eric scoffed, "If you say so."

Ellen gasped – she knew her dad didn't like her, but to hear it so openly... She rushed over to her room, and slammed the door close. She ran to her bed, and covered her face in her pillow, and started to cry. Why didn't her dad like her? What did she do wrong? Could she fix it? She continued to cry, and slowly began to realize that the hate she felt for him was growing more and more.

She didn't mind... If he didn't care for her, why should she care for him?

XxXxXxX

"I can start to see why she wanted to kill her dad..." She mumbled as her mind came out from the intense memory, her emotions were haywire – half of her mind was hating the man, mostly coming from Ellen's memories, and half of her mind was – she hated to admit – beginning to pity Ellen. She got up from the floor, realizing that she had slid down the wall from how powerful the emotion from that memory was, and she made her way out of the room, glancing over at Ellen's parent's room.

"I bet if I can get in there, I can figure out why her dad hated her." She mumbled.

Unfortunately for her, to get in there, she'd need a key, and she honestly didn't know where it was, even going through Ellen's memories didn't reveal anything, which was odd, since Ellen's last memories of her parents were of their horrifying deaths, so that mean that someone, or something else locked the door, as if to prevent Ellen from going in there, but why would they want to make sure she stays out of that room? What purpose did it serve?

Tired of having questions and no answers, she walked back downstairs, and walked around, being sure to avoid looking at the blood stained floors. She eventually wandered back into the dining room, and took the door leading to the entrance of the house, and noticed that there was a hallway she had ignored before. Figuring that there was little reason not to go there, she followed it down, and eventually came upon a glass door, which led out into a very beautiful garden.

It was an enclosed spaced, with the house surrounding it on all sides, in in the center was a fountain with a bench in front of it. To either side were small ponds, and there were various doors leading back into the building to different areas. She wandered out into the garden, and took a seat down on the bench, and looked up at the sunlit sky, noting that it was probably around four in the afternoon now.

"This place must have been so beautiful when the staff was taking care of it." She mumbled, looking around, the mention of the staff brought up a horrible memory of Ellen sadistically allowing the demon to use the house to murder them all in horrible ways. She shook her head, trying to ward away the thoughts, and instead looked around some more, "There must be something out here that can trigger a memory."

She got up off of the bench, and wandered around the garden, looking at the dead flowers lining all along the building, and seeing vines growing up the sides of the house as well.

"What's this?" She mumbled, noticing something in one of the ponds as she passed by it. She got down onto her knees, and took a closer look, and could clearly see something red in the water. She hesitantly reached forward, dipping her hand into the water, and pulling out a plastic red bucket, "This... This is here because Ellen kicked it in..." She mumbled, the memory flooding her mind, "During her... Ninth birthday." She felt the memory coming to the forefront of her mind, and she knew this it was going to be another intense one.

She went over to the bench and sat down, and like the previous three times, she allowed it to immerse her consciousness in the memory.

XxXxXxX

A nine year old Ellen walked around her Garden with a red balloon in hand, and like every other party her parents threw before, she was making sure to avoid everyone as discreetly as possible. That day, November 13th, was her birthday, and she dearly wished it weren't. Like for every other major occasion in her life, her mom and dad made very big theatrics of caring for their 'poor' and 'sick' little girl, and they wanted her to have a good time before her untimely death, and they invited every person they could think of to the party.

Ellen knelt down near the pond, and looked into it, seeing the fish swimming around. She hated these parties. She hated her parents. She hated the people who came. She hated the staff who didn't know what a hell her life was. She was knocked out of her quickly darkening thoughts when she turned to see her pet cat walking over, softly mewling to her and purring as it rubbed its whiskers against her thigh. She let out a sigh, knowing that thinking like that would do her no good, and she quickly reached out to her only friend, scratching him on the head.

"Are you having fun?" She asked.

The cat meowed at her, causing the girl to smile.

"I suppose not," She couldn't help but giggle, "There's no other kids here... I'm bored."

She reached over and picked up her cat, and intended to go through the glass doors into the hallway, but she was intercepted by several party-goers. The men and women were all very formally dressed, despite the occasion just being her birthday, and they all would tell her how much they found her illness to be horrible, but several of them would say 'God always has a reason'. She absolutely HATED it when people said that. So this 'God' of theirs made her sick for some reason? Why would he be so cruel? She didn't want to believe in any god who could be so cruel.

She finally reached the door, and made she to straighten out her blue gown that her parents had practically forced her to wear. With that out of the way, she set down her cat, and the two walked down the hallway.

"I'm going to my room," She decided, "I'd rather pretend to be really sick today than meet with all of these people."

With that decided she, and the cat following her, went into the large dining room, where like every single other party before, many guests mingled. In particular, she saw her dad at the table, chatting with several guys, and like every other party before, her dad was talking about her as if he cared! She hated him for that! He was a careless old man, and she – she wished he'd die...

Her cat mewled again at her feet, disrupting her dark thoughts once more, "Ah, I'm sorry." She mumbled, picking him up, "Thank you for not letting me think like that." She scratched behind his ears, and the cat purred in satisfaction.

She walked further into the dining room, and saw the gigantic stacks of presents on the table. There had to be at least three dozen presents, perhaps even more. There was also the cake, which she would have to make a wish, which would inevitably not come true – the same wish she made every year:

'I wish my parents loved me'.

She frowned, trying not to dwell on her sadness, and she made her way to the door leading to the hallway where she could go upstairs to her room, but her mother must have seen her, and the woman quickly rushed over to her.

"Dear," Her mother grabbed her arm, "There's some guests I want to introduce you to."

"Do I have to? I'm not feeling good." Ellen lied. She generally hated her illness, but at least it did have its uses at times.

"It'll only be for a little bit," The woman waved it off, and forced Ellen over to a group of tall men and women, all of whom were dressed like every other party goers – in expensive suits and dresses that Ellen detested.

"Hello, Ellen." One of the men in the mingling group waved lightly as he saw the little girl being dragged over by her mother, "how are you doing?"

"Fine." Ellen replied curtly.

"That's good." The man smiled, though it was clear it was fake. He was just probably trying to get favor with her mom for something at work, if she had to guess.

Ellen watched the very familiar scene play out as it did every other time her mom or dad introduced her to some guests. When it was her dad, he would act very affectionate towards her, patting her shoulder, giving her encouraging smiles, and in general acting like he actually cared for her. Her mother, on the other hand, did things a little differently. The people would talk about her illness, which would cause her mother to burst into tears, and soon the men and women around would comfort her in her time of need. Ellen was so used to the act now that she didn't even register what was going on now.

"I wanna go," Ellen complained to her mom, "I'm bored."

Her mother looked at the girl, "Go outside and play with some toys or something," She said, "I'll even let you take a single present."

Ellen let out a moan, "Fine..."

She went over the boxes and boxes of presents, and picked the nearest one, and made her way outside once more into the garden, where fortunately the amount of people had decreased significantly. She took a seat on the bench, and, despite her earlier protests, she did eagerly unwrap the box in an eager race to see what was inside.

"Wha – what...?" She mumbled, seeing what was inside.

Plastic buckets and shovels, among other things to take to the beach and play with in the sand. She frowned deeply upon seeing the content, and felt tears brimming from her eyes. She shoved the box aside very roughly, and covered her eyes, letting go of her balloon, letting it sail up into the sky in the process.

Did these people know she couldn't visit the beach? She only read about it, and saw it on the TV occasionally, but her parents always refused her to go there, so she could only wonder what it was like to have sand going through her toes, what it was like to see a vast body of water, and what swimming would be like! Those were things she would never experience, because of her horrible illness. She tried to contain her sniffles, but it was a futile effort, whenever she was confronted with something that reminded her of her desire to go outside and explore, she would fall apart.

"I hate my life," She cried to herself, glad that no one was near by.

Her cat came over and meowed at her, and she perked her head up, and smiled through her tears, "I – I guess I can play with it here."

The thought honestly excited her. She went over to the pond nearby, and again got on her knees, and started opening the box, and pulling out all the plastic shovels, buckets, and molds that she could use to shape the sand - or dirt in this instance - however she wanted. She could pretend her pond was an ocean, and so she used the shovel to begin digging up the dirt at her feet, and a rare smile crossed her face, as she placed the dirt into the bucket, filling it nearly to the top.

"And I do this, right?" She turned to address her cat, who simply mewled in response. She smiled, and poured the dirt into a mold of a starfish, and she quickly patted it down so it wouldn't all fall out when she turned the mold around to plant it on the ground. When it was in tight enough, she put it on the ground, and lifted the mold, and let out a laugh of delight, seeing that the mold had created the shape she desired.

She continued to play in the dirt for another ten minutes, having the time of her life, pretending that she was at the beach, when suddenly she heard a gasp, "Ellen? You're getting your dress all dirty! Stop that this instant!"

She looked up, and saw her father stomping over to her, and she noticed that several people were watching and started to gossip about the scene.

"I'm just having fun..." Ellen mumbled.

"You're playing in the dirt, dear. That can't be good for your illness." He said with fake concern in his voice, "Now come on, let's get you inside and clean you up."

"Why do you do that?" She whispered.

"Do what?"

"Why do you pretend to care for me?" She asked, tears beginning to stream down her face, "Why do you act like the dad I want only when people are around?" She wiped her eyes, "You're just a fake."

Her father bristled at that, but amazingly he calmed down. She expected him to lash out at her, but she supposed with people all around, that would do little good for his image. Instead, he took a step forward, and smashed the mold of the starfish she made earlier with his foot, "Come on, dear. I promise I'll clean you up."

She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to stop her crying, but it did little good, "I don't wanna..."

Now he started to get visibly annoyed. He let out an annoyed sigh, and shook his head, "Dear. You're too sick to be playing in the dirt! Who knows what kind of diseases you could catch doing that! You must be cleaned at once."

She knew she wasn't going to win this, so she just stood up, and dejected kicked the red plastic bucket she was using to dig up dirt with into the pond, "Fine..."

She was led away by her father, who had gently picked her up, and took her upstairs to the bathroom. She wrapped her arms around him, wishing against fate that he would keep on acting like this for the rest of her life – that he could act like the loving father he pretended to be, but it was a useless hope. The moment they stepped into the bathroom, the man's furious glare turned on her, and he quickly slapped her across the face hard, causing her to stagger into the wall.

"You ALWAYS do as I say, you got that?" He practically snarled at her, "I don't want people to think you're an insolent little girl!"

She just nodded.

"Good." He stood up straight and adjusted his tie, "I've got a party to get back to. I'll have the staff escort you down when it's time to cut your cake, but until then, you're grounded to your room."

"Ok..." She mumbled.

"Good," He turned around and left, leaving the dejected nine year old leaning against the wall. With no one there, she openly started to cry, knowing that her birthday wish wasn't going to come true this year either.


	3. My Understanding

My Understanding

Viola growled as she blinked a few times, regaining consciousness from that memory. She was starting to see why Ellen hated her parents – her father in particular. That man was a son of a bitch, and definitely deserved to be punished for what he did. Still, was murder a justified course of action? She knew exactly where to go for the next memory however, she could recall it from Ellen's set of memories, and knew that it was the moment when her parents went from hateful to irredeemable monsters, in the little girl's eyes.

Viola stood up from the bench, and went over to the dirt that the nine year old Ellen had played with as a child. It had been over four years since then, so there was no sign of the mold or the disrupted dirt, but she could see where the little girl sat, playing with her toys, pretending to be at the beach, wishing desperately to be a normal girl.

"Damn," Viola mumbled, "She's starting to make me sympathize with her again."

Did this redeem the girl from murdering her parents? From killing the entire staff? From luring people into the house to try and cure her illness? From switching bodies with her and leaving her to die in agony in the middle of the forest?

No. It didn't redeem her, Viola decided, but she could start to see why the girl did it. Her entire life was based around this house, and the only human interaction she had was with businessmen and women who didn't care for her. The staff never cared for her, and her parents never cared for her either. It was at least clear why Ellen had so little regard for human life... Viola shook her head – it took a lot to make such a young girl begin to hate life, but somehow, her parents did it.

"If I go to the guest room, I know I'll see the memory that made her into the girl she is today." Viola whispered to herself, and she gently stood up from the bench, and walked back into the hallway, being sure to close the glass doors behind her. She walked down the hallway, passing by the entrance to the building, and took the path she ignored the first time upon entering the house. There was yet again another hallway, and this time there were two different room on the right side of the hall, and just lights and pictures hanging right the left side. At the end was another window, showing off that it was mid day still.

"It's the first one..." She muttered, going to the first door, and opening it up.

Inside was just one bed situated against the wall in the middle of the room. To the right side of the bed was a dresser, and to the left was a desk. On either side of the bed there were two windows, and she looked over to the wall where she knew there should be a blood splatter by the doorway. She wasn't able to find it however, and chalked it up to the staff having it cleaned up after the events that transpired in here. She took a hesitant step toward the bed, and sat down on the edge, looking around the room, feeling nostalgic, despite never having actually been in there before.

She felt the memory coming with minimal effort, probably because this room was so significant for Ellen's development. Viola let out a sigh, and again allowed the memory to engulf her.

XxXxXxX

Ellen giggled as she darted through the woods that night. She had planned this for a while, and tonight she was going to run away. She was going to go to the beach, go to a playground, or visit a 'school' that her parents refused to allow her to go to! She was finally free to do as she wanted! She continued running through the woods, and let out a gasp when she suddenly saw a large man out in the woods, he was moving around, his eyes darting around.

She ducked into the brush, hiding from the man's eyes and flashlight as it shined around the night air. How in the world did he know she would be escaping that night? The only person she talked to about the plan was her dear cat, and she knew he would never betray her! She crawled away on her stomach, dirtying her blouse, not that she really cared. Getting pass that man, she darted down a path next to a little creak, her excitement growing with each step.

She followed the creak until she saw a structure that was built over it. She examined it for a little bit, and then realized that it was a bridge! She knew cars drove across it, so she quickly darted towards it, eager to see a car in real life! She had only seen them from a distance and in movies, and they looked really big in those! She climbed up the hill beside the bridge, and wandered out onto the paved road, and looked to both sides. There was a single street light keeping the place lit up, and she smiled when she saw headlights coming down the road! A real car!

She got to the side of the road, allowing the car to pass, but then it stopped, and she frowned when the doors flew open and there were several men wearing suits who came out.

"Ellen!" The oldest of the four men called out, his hair was starting to turn gray had he had a large mustache, "Your father is very worried! You know you shouldn't be out here, not with your illness!"

"I feel fine!" Ellen shot back, and it was true, she did.

"A temporary lapse in your illness, surely." The man said, "Now come with us."

"No!" She screamed, and turned around to run, but she instead ran into one of the staff who had someone gotten behind her when she was distracted with talking.

"Come, young mistress." The man behind her said to the ten year old, "Your father and mother are both worried sick. You shouldn't do something so foolish."

"I don't wanna go!" She screamed, "Let me go!"

She knew that if she was taken back, she wouldn't have another chance to escape, and she also knew her father would be absolutely furious with her. She kicked and screamed, and started to even beg them to let her go, but nothing she did got through to the men, and they forced her into the car. As the vehicle turned around to go the house, she started to cry - she was going back to her hell, and there was nothing she could do about it. Upon reaching the building, she was let out, and forcibly put into the guest room.

"I need to get out!" She mumbled, running over to the window and opening it up. Unfortunately, she saw that there were several people outside waiting for her if she even tried to escape. She was trapped. She quickly crawled under the bed, not wanting to confront her dad. She covered her eyes, unable to stop her tears as they poured out.

The door to the room opened a short while later, and the frightened Ellen saw the black shoes of her father walking in.

"Ellen?" He called out, "I know you're in here. Come out, and I promise I won't hurt you."

She stayed as quiet as she could. Maybe... Maybe if she waited him out, she could get a chance to escape again. Her eyes widened when her pet cat entered the room behind her dad, mewling softly, and the man picked it up roughly.

"Ellen, if you don't come out, I will get rid of your cat."

"No!" She cried, "He's my friend!"

"Get out." Her father coldly demanded.

"Ok..." She mumbled, crawling out from under the bed, and standing as far away from her dad as possible, her eyes locked on her cat that her dad held by the scruff on the back of its neck.

"Ellen," He said, his golden eyes glaring daggers at her, "You deserve punishment for this. What do you think I ought to do?"

"I don't know..." She mumbled.

"Have you been taking your medication lately?" He asked, "I'm impressed that you managed to get so far without getting sick."

"I – I haven't." She admitted.

Her father's brows furrowed, "And why not?"

"Because I don't wanna." She shook her head, "I just want to go outside for a little bit... Is that so much to ask for?"

"It is." Her father said, "It is when you refuse to take the medication that is saving your life!"

"Like you care about me!" She shouted.

Her father's glare forced her to avert her gaze, "You deserve to be punished, and I think I know how to keep you in line from now on."

She heard her cat hissing, and her eyes shot up, and she let out a gasp upon seeing her dad putting both of her large hands around her pet cat's throat, "NO!" She screamed, "Please, I'll be good! I'll take my medicine!" She got on the floor on her knees, bowing down to him, "DON'T HURT HIM!"

She heard a loud snap, and her breath got caught. Her eyes looked up, widened in complete shock at the limp cat in her father's arms, and she watched as he carelessly tossed the dead creature against the wall next to the door, where a bit of blood coated the wall. She felt warm tears coming from her eyes, and her lips trembled. She started to shake so violently, and she covered her head, even as her dad knocked her aside, and held her down against the wall. She didn't care, her thoughts were focused on her cat's dead gaze as it lay there.

"No, no, no, no, no..." She kept repeating. Her best friend, her ONLY friend was dead. The one who kept her company when she was lonely, the one who made her feel happy, the one she could confide in. The last gift from her mother before the woman stopped caring for her. It represented so many things to her, and now it was dead.

"Natasha!" The old man bellowed, and the woman came into the room carrying the bottle of pills that Ellen was taking for years, "Give me double the amount," He said, "She hasn't been taking her medication."

Natasha nodded, and tipped the bottle upward until four pills came out, and she handed them to Eric, who was still holding their daughter down as she shook on the floor. Her brought the pills to the girl's mouth, and forced them in her mouth. When Ellen spit them out, he slapped her hard across the cheek.

"Do you want to be punished even more?" He asked.

Ellen averted her gaze from his eyes, and looked pleadingly up to her mom. The only parent of hers who even cared for her. She would help her, she was sure of it. "M – Mommy..." She whispered, as she looked at the woman. Her mother's purple eyes looked away from Ellen, and that was the moment that Ellen realized that she was now all alone in the world. All her hopes and dreams were useless.

"Swallow these, now." Her father said, roughly shoving pills in her mouth, and her covered her mouth, forcing her to swallow them down. When she finally swallowed them, her father shoved her aside, and sneered down at the girl, "Let this be a lesson to you," He turned to look at the cat, "Never talk about your plans aloud where my staff can hear you."

Ellen nodded. That would be a lesson she would keep close to her heart.

No one could be trusted.

Everyone deserved to die.

XxXxXxX

Viola shivered as she left that memory. The hate, the desire to kill, everything that Ellen became in her later life was due to that moment, when he dad killed the only thing keeping her in check. She clenched her fists, staring down at the floor, and she knew where the last memory she needed to view was in to understand the whole picture, though she already had a good idea of why Ellen was sick during her childhood, but she dearly hoped she was wrong.

"I need to go see Mary first." Viola decided, getting up and leaving the guest room, walking down the hallway and out to the front door. Opening the door, and entering the sunlight, Viola allowed herself to bask in the light for a bit, and finally she turned her gaze towards Mary, who was leaning against the side of the building, her arms crossed and her eyes were closed.

"You're done?" Mary asked, her eyes opening as she looked over at the girl.

The thirteen year old frowned, "I – I need to check one more room, but the door is locked."

"Is this room important?"

"It is." Viola confirmed, "I already have a suspicion as to why she was sick all the time, but I need to see the first memory in which she met the demon to be sure – the memory where it killed her parents."

"I see." Mary heaved herself off of the wall, and swung her light violet hair out of her eyes, "I'll unlock this door for you."

"Thank you." Viola sincerely replied, and she let out a deep sigh, "I don't think I'll like what I see in there."

"I'll refrain from asking you what your plans are until after this room, then." Mary walked over to her side, and gave her a pat on the head, "All right, lead me to this place."

Viola nodded, and she led Mary into the building. She could see Mary's wondrous stares at how large and spacious the place was, and she saw the looks of disgust as she looked down at the dried trail of blood that had been placed there recently. In short order, Mary was led up the stairs, and they took the right path to the final door at the end of the hallway.

"This is it." Viola pointed at the door.

Mary turned the knob left and right, and she quickly nodded, "Yep, that's locked."

"You do have some spells to open it, right?" Viola asked.

"Sure do." Mary nodded. She whispered a very strange string of words, and Viola watched magic before her very eyes – a green light came from the tip of Mary's finger, and entered the lock, and soon they heard a very audible click, "It's open now."

"Thank you." Viola replied, and she reached forth and took hold of the handle.

"I'll wait out here," Mary decided, leaning against the wall beside the door.

"No, you can come with me," Viola said quickly, "I – I'm kind of nervous to go in alone."

Mary smiled, "If it's fine with you, then I'll come."

Viola relaxed a bit when that declaration, and she opened the door leading into a large bedroom. There was a door off to the left that led to its own built in bathroom. There were bookshelves along the walls everywhere. There was a desk with piles and piles of papers on it, and then there was a destroyed bed in the center of the room, blood staining the sheets that were still on it, and more traumatizing were two corpses, little more than bones now, one was on the bed, and the other was against the wall where a very visible blood stain was. Most disturbingly, the one by the wall had its skull completely destroyed.

"Oh – Oh my god." Mary covered her mouth, though she still looked quite green.

Viola wasn't as restrained, and had to rush out into the hallway and throw up once more, starting to dry heave when she had nothing else to throw up. Mary came out and began to pat the girl on the back, and she got her purple hair out of her face. Eventually Viola calmed down enough, and the two stood in the hallway a little longer.

"I didn't expect the bodies to still be there." Viola admitted, her stomach was still upsetting her, and she had to take deep breaths to try and calm down.

"The smell in there is horrible," Mary couldn't help but say, "Are you sure you need to go in there?"

"Yeah," Viola nodded, "I – I think I'm prepared now."

"Ok." Mary said, "I'm right behind you."

As the two entered the room again, they were at least able to stay composed, despite the fact that the smell was absolutely putrid, and despite the fact that there were two corpses in there. Viola wandered around, and she could feel the memory coming back to her.

"Mary." She called, "I – I feel it coming... can you hold me?"

"Feel what coming?"

"A memory," She clarified, "If I go to places where Ellen had an intense experience, I can relive the memory almost. I don't know why, but it allows me to see things objectively."

Mary frowned, "I see. Ok, I'll hold you."

Viola smiled faintly, "Thank you." Mary came over and took hold of her, as the thirteen year old allowed her consciousness to again be consumed by another memory.

XxXxXxX

Ellen knocked on her parents door with glee, her wide smile and excitement were visible to all who could witness her at that moment. Perched on her shoulder was a black cat, the same one that her father had killed a few months back. She looked excited over to the cat, whose eyes shifted between the yellow that they originally were, and a deep crimson color. It was currently three in the morning, and her parents were sleeping peacefully in their bed.

"Mom, dad!" She yelled, knocking louder on the door.

"What is it?" A man yelled – her father.

"I need help!" Ellen called.

"Go to bed!" He shouted.

"No!" She said, knowing that defying her father's will would be enough to get the man to come out to see her. He could be so predictable at times.

She heard stomping coming over to the door, and the man opened it up, wearing nothing more than some comfortable looking silk pants and shirt, "You'll do as I say, or else I'll -"

He wasn't able to finish the sentence, since there was a considerable force that sent him sailing across the room, slamming into the wall. He was clearly knocked unconscious, and Ellen heard her mother scream in shock at what just happened. Ellen skipped into the room, more happy than she had ever been in years. She looked to her pet cat, and it jumped down from her shoulder.

"Ellen? What's going on?" The woman still in the bed asked, fearfully looking back from Ellen to her husband.

"I made a deal with my kitty!" She stated, "He said that he would help me with my problems and my illness!"

"Illness?" The woman's eyes darted to the nightstand next to the bed, and then quickly went back to her, "How could a cat help you?"

"Like this." The cat said, and the body of the cat went completely limp as a darkness suddenly emitted from its mouth, forming in the air before their very eyes, becoming more and more massive and sold until it finally took a vaguely humanoid shape, it's blood red eyes staring at everything in the room with a disturbing calm, and its sharp-toothed smile looked insane to everyone who viewed it. The beast flexed its grotesque muscles, and stomped over to Eric, who was just regaining consciousness.

"Wha – What the hell?" The man cried as the demon lifted him up with its hand, and smashed him hard against the wall, creating cracks and denting it a bit. Eric spit up some blood from the impact, causing Ellen to clap with glee. Eric looked at the beast in terror, "I – I'll do whatever you want!" He cried, "I can give you all the money you want! ANYTHING!"

"I want one thing..." Ellen remarked before the demon could kill her father. She turned glare to the man and asked, "Why? Why didn't you ever love me?"

Her father's golden eyes hardened as he looked at her, "You... Were always a means to an end. Nothing more..."

"I'm your daughter." Ellen said, shaking her head, "That meant nothing to you?"

"No."

Ellen frowned, but she shook it off, and a smile slowly worked its way to her face, "Fine. I don't need a dad anyway."

"Please..." His gaze turned back to the demon, "Spare me..."

"Do you truly believe I would do so after what you've just said to my mistress? All I want is your life," The beast growled, and with its free arm, it wrapped its large meaty hand around Eric's head and smashed it into the wall.

"Ah, guh, ack..." Eric sputtered out, still alive.

"Stop it!" Natasha cried in horror.

"No." The beast rumbled, and it smashed Eric's head into the wall again, and again, and even more after that. Soon, the demon let go of the body, and all that remained of Eric's head were bloody chunks all over the wall and floor. It turned its gaze over to Natasha now, the woman who was visibly crying and shaking in horror, unable to move since she was so frightened.

"P – please stop!" She begged, "I'll stop hurting Ell-" She gasped when suddenly the beast wrapped its hand around her abdomen, and began to squeeze as tightly as it could.

"Good night." The beast menacingly stated, smiling wickedly.

The woman looked over to Ellen, and saw that the girl was smiling so widely it looked like her face would split in any second. Natasha tried to mouth a message to Ellen, but her gurgling blood and inability to stop shaking prevented Ellen from understanding, and the girl started to laugh when her mother suffocated to death on her own blood. The demon dropped the corpse on the bed, and turned back into the black mist, and entered the corpse of the cat.

"Thank you!" Ellen said, smiling down at the cat, "Now you need to cure my illness! Then I can go out in the world and do what I want!"

"That..." The cat paused, "Might be a bit of a problem."

Ellen frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, to cure a disease such as yours will take some time, and it will require a lot of lives." The demon claimed.

"Kill everyone in this building then," Ellen shrugged, "I don't care. I want to leave. Now."

"If you make a pact with me, I promise I will do everything in my power to save you." The cat said, "And if all else fails, I'll teach you a spell that will surely save you in the end."

"Whatever it takes," Ellen said, "I don't care."

"You don't mind the people here dying?" The demon asked.

"No one can be trusted." She replied, "No one is my friend."

If possible, it seemed as if the cat actually smiled, "I see. Then I believe this will be the start of a very beautiful relationship, my dear."

Ellen smiled at the cat, "Good. Then let's get to work!"

"Don't forget to take your pills though," The demon added, "We wouldn't want you dying before I can complete what you have asked of me, would we?"

She shook her head, "No. Just give me the pills whenever I need them, ok?"

The cat nodded, "I can do that."

And with that, Ellen allowed the demon to devour everyone in the household, and allowed it to lure other unsuspecting visitors to the house, only to die... And soon, it was how she met Viola, and pretended to be her friend, and eventually stole her body.

XxXxXxX

"The demon knew..." Viola shook in fury, still being held by Mary.

"Knew what?" Mary asked, surprised that Viola snapped out of the memory so quickly.

"He knew what was causing her sickness, and so he lied to her."

"Demons can't be trusted." Mary recited from her memory, "That's something Yuki always told me, though I've never actually faced a demon before, but it's something I've always kept close in my mind, just in case." Mary let go of Viola, and watched as the girl went towards the nightstand by the bed, and she opened it up, and pulled out what looked to be prescription bottles with pills inside.

"The reason Ellen was sick, was because her parents were poisoning her." Viola said, showing off the many bottles of pills, "They'd go get the prescriptions pills that the doctor recommended to them, and then they would hide those here while they continued to poison their little girl..."

Mary's mouth dropped open, "Wh – what?"

"What parent would be sick enough to poison their own child?" Viola asked, "My dad – he loved me unconditionally, even when we fought, he still came here to save me... Even though it wasn't me he ended up saving..."

"Viola." Mary whispered her name, patting the girl on the shoulder.

"Her mom did love her, but she allowed her horrible husband to manipulate her into doing what he wanted... Her last words to her daughter, even though Ellen couldn't tell, were 'I love you'." Viola wiped her eyes, "What a dumb woman... If she had only told Ellen that once in her life... She wouldn't have become the person she is today."

"Why would they poison their daughter though?" Mary asked.

"Sympathy." Viola answered, "They constantly held parties where the people gathered would feel sympathetic towards them and try to comfort them and give them gifts..." She shook her head, "I was wondering why I was only finding pictures of Ellen everywhere, and it was because they wanted the staff, the guests, and anyone else who visited to feel sympathetic towards them – to give them special treatment."

"I've heard of this..." Mary closed her eyes, deep in thought, and she finally said, "I think it's called Munchhausen syndrome by proxy?"

"I don't know," The thirteen year old admitted, "But... the demon knew. When she killed her parents, she would have been just fine if she stopped dealing with the demon there and stopped taking the poisoned pills her parents were giving her, but no... The demon lied to her, claiming that her disease would be nigh impossible to cure, and told her to keep taking the pills... That monster..."

"So... What are you going to do now?"

"This doesn't let Ellen off the hook..." Viola shook her head.

"So you're still going to kill her?"

Viola pursed her lips, looking down at the ground, and finally shook her head, "No."

"Then what do you plan to do?"

"I'm going to confront her, and tell her she gave her soul to a demon for no reason. That she would have been fine otherwise."

"Are you sure?" Mary asked.

"I can't think of a better punishment." Viola smiled sadistically, "To know that your own body was fine, to know that she is damned for all eternity because of her choice to work with a demon for no good reason at all!"

"I don't know if you should do that."

"And why not?" Viola asked, turning towards Mary.

"Would you have done things differently if you were in her shoes? She thought she was going to die, and all her life, she thought no one loved her, and that people were untrustworthy, and there was no one deserving her attention or time..." Mary went on, "I'm not saying that you should be happy for her – far from it, but... I'm saying that you should be satisfied with what you know now. You're in a unique position where you know the full story behind what happened. You know her emotions, you know why she did what she had to do... I know it's hard, but try to think objectively... Do you really think telling her anything would make you feel better?"

Viola groaned, walking out into the hall and away from the corpses in the room, "I – I know what you're saying, but... I just... I'm so mad."

"Understandably so." Mary answered.

"You don't even know how furious I am!" She turned to Mary, her golden eyes glaring at her, "Imagine one day that you decide to be a good friend and try to help them relieve the pain for a little while! Imagine your friend destroying her body before transferring, and then imagine her getting your own father to try and kill you!" She wiped her eyes of the tears, "Now, imagine that you lived all of that, but you're now in some foreign body – you look in the mirror and you don't even recognize yourself! You hate what you see, since all you see is the bitch who stole everything from you!"

"I can't imagine that..." Mary admitted.

"I know you can't." Viola shook her head, "I – I accept that I'm not going to get my body back..." She shook as she said that, "I know that... for the rest of my life... I'll look in the mirror, and I'll see gold eyes staring at me instead of blue..." She wrapped her arms around her body, "I – I don't know what to do..."

"Viola..." Mary whispered, reaching over and hugging the girl.

"I'm sorry I'm being such a burden to you." Viola whispered to the woman she was hugging.

"Given your situation, there's nothing you can do to make me think that." Mary replied.

"It's just... Now whenever people complement my eyes, or how I look, or anything about my body, all I can think is that this isn't me... This isn't my body."

"I know it's hard for you to hear," Mary whispered, "But it is you now. The moment you switched bodies, it became yours."

"I – it will take a long time before I can accept that..." Viola mumbled.

"I think at this point, all you can really do...," Mary started to speak, as she comfortingly rubbed Viola's head, "Is to allow her to continue living in your body... There's little else you can do. If you do any harm to her, you'd be indirectly hurting your father, family, and friends..."

"I – I know." Viola claimed. She bit her lip, and pulled out of the hug, "I – I need to see her though, I need to talk to her one last time. I want to hear from her own mouth why she did it, and if she has any regrets now – if she is fine that she nearly killed me – I thought of her as a friend, and she has my memories up until the switch, so she'd know that much."

"Very well," Mary replied, "I'll take you to town. Do you know where you want to confront her?"

"After school gets out," Viola answered, "I don't want to go to my house, I – I doubt I can look at my dad right now..."

"It's Saturday evening right now," Mary said, "You'd have to wait until Monday to do that."

"That's fine." Viola answered, looking out the window and seeing that it was indeed turning orange outside as the sun was beginning to set, "I need time to think anyway..."

Mary nodded, "Ok. Until that time, you'll be staying with me."

Viola smiled at Mary, "I know I've been saying this a lot, but I mean it every time: Thank you."

Mary chuckled as she pat Viola on the shoulder, "You're a good girl, now come on, let's go home before it gets dark out."

With that, Viola left the building following Mary. She took one last glance behind her at the place, and shook her head. Now that the demon had fulfilled its pact with Ellen, the place was just an old abandoned mansion in the middle of the forest, with a haunting atmosphere. Taking one last look at the place, she turned around to follow Mary, never intending to go there again.

XxXxXxX

Viola let out a sigh as the school bell rang, and she quickly put away her books into her desk, and followed the class out into the hall. It was yet another boring day of classes, and it was so sunny and beautiful outside too! It should be a crime to force students to stay inside when it was so nice out. She adjusted her school uniform, rubbing down her skirt and she adjusted her bow, and quickly rubbed her blonde hair to be back behind her ears.

"Viola!" A girl rushed over, wearing the same school outfit. She had brown hair and bright green eyes, and the girl smiled upon reaching her, "Hey, the girls and I are heading out to karaoke, you wanna come with us?"

Viola smiled, "Sure, that sounds like fun Amy!"

"Awesome!" Amy cheered, wrapping her arm around Viola, "Let's go!"

Viola chuckled at how enthusiastic her friend was as she was practically dragged out of the front door of the school. They walked through the school gates onto the sidewalk, and Viola froze, her eyes widening in shock as she noticed a girl standing there.

"Hello." Ellen said, leaning against the wall beside the school gate, "I've been waiting for you."

Ellen was wearing a green blouse, a white skirt, and sandals. Her purple hair was tied back with a white string into a ponytail, and her golden eyes were staring at her blandly – she couldn't see hate, fear, happiness, or anything from those eyes.

"Hey..." Viola said, eyeing her warily.

"Who's she?" Amy asked, "A friend of yours?" She turned to Ellen, "I love your eyes! They're so pretty! It's so rare to see gold!"

Ellen frowned, but she politely replied, "Thank you, A -." She paused, "Um, what's your name?"

"Amy." She brown haired girl smiled.

"Thank you, Amy." Ellen said with a sad smile, averting her eyes away from the girl.

"We're going to karaoke right now, do you want to come?" Amy invited, oblivious to the tension between the two girls.

"No thanks," Ellen said, "I just want to talk with El – Viola."

Amy deflated at that, "Fine..." She turned towards Viola, "We'll be waiting for you, don't take too long, ok?"

Viola nodded, "I won't."

When Amy left, Ellen forced out a chuckle, "Amy's always been pretty bad at reading the situation..."

"How are you alive?" Viola asked, her blue eyes glaring at the purple haired girl in front of her.

Ellen sighed, "Look... Let's go somewhere private, ok? I want to talk to you."

Viola nodded, "Ok."

Viola allowed Ellen to lead, and she eventually led the girl to the karaoke bar that Viola's friends were meeting at. Fortunately, all of her friends were already in a booth, allowing Ellen to get a booth for an hour for the both of them with no interruptions. After Ellen paid for the room, the two wandered through the neon lit building, and finally entered the booth Ellen had ordered, and they both sat down. Neither wanted to sing, obviously, they just knew that these rooms were soundproof. The room itself, compared to the hallway they just went through was actually very well lit up, thankfully.

Viola crossed her legs on the couch and leaned back, staring at Ellen sitting in a chair across from her. There was a small stage further in the room where there was a screen that displayed lyrics, and on the table between the two of them was a microphone. Finally Viola decided to speak, and she asked, "So... How did you manage to survive? And why aren't you bed ridden?"

"I was saved after you made my dad shoot me." Ellen said, glaring at the girl across from her, "Ellen... How could you?"

Ellen smiled, again pushing her blonde hair back behind her ears, "I couldn't have you chasing me into town, could I?"

"There were a LOT of things you could have done." Viola countered, "You could have just killed me immediately, instead of letting me suffer!"

"I'm fond of you," Ellen shrugged, "I didn't want to kill you."

"So instead you decided to let me slowly bleed out in horrible agony? You made me drink some potion that destroyed my voice so I couldn't even ask for help!"

Ellen glared at her, "Would you have preferred to die?"

"Would I have preferred to die instead of slowly bleeding out and hearing you laugh at me?" Viola's arms shook, and she gritted her teeth as she looked down at the table, trying to keep her anger under control, "Yes. I would have."

"If I had, you wouldn't be alive right now."

"It's only because of dumb luck that I'm alive." Viola mumbled, forcing herself to relax.

Ellen said nothing to that, and only watched Viola. She watched as the girl in her former body calmed down and started to let out deep breaths.

A few seconds later, Viola leaned back, gripped the hem of her skirt, "I shouldn't have been stupid enough to switch bodies with you."

"And yet you were." Ellen smiled, "You were a very kind girl."

"You said for only a day," Viola shook her head, "I wouldn't have done it, but I got into a fight with my dad, and I was so upset with him that I decided to go for it – to be someone else..."

"Ah," Ellen nodded, "Your dad. Don't worry, he and I are on good terms again, especially after he saved me from that monster in the woods."

"Monster? You mean me." Viola spat out bitterly.

"Yes."

"You're a horrible person." Viola mumbled, "You stole my life, and nearly killed me in the process..."

"I've been wanting to ask about that, but you keep changing the subject." Ellen said, "How did you survive?"

"After dad shot me, I didn't die," Viola said.

"Clearly."

"I'm not done yet." Viola glared at the girl across from her, "I was writhing around on the ground, hating you, hating my situation, wishing that it wasn't true, when this woman came across my destroyed body..." Viola paused, realizing that she said 'my' instead of 'your'. She frowned at the thought... Mary did say that there was no chance of her getting her own body back, so she supposed it was a positive development to think of the body as herself now.

"So some woman came across your body and?" Ellen spoke up, sounding very impatient.

"She ended up being a witch too," She glared at Ellen, "Not the bad kind though, one that helps people instead of leaving them to die."

Ellen rolled her eyes, "I had my reasons."

"You did," Viola acknowledged, much to Ellen's surprise, "But anyway... She took me to her home, and she nursed me back to health. I don't know how, but she used some weird magic to restore my eyes and legs, and she also made it so I could talk again."

"Yes, she did." Ellen mumbled, "I have to admit, it's strange to hear my old voice."

"Old?" Viola muttered.

"Well, this is my new voice." Ellen said, "So your voice is my old one, the one I discarded."

Viola sighed, "It's odd to hear my voice too..."

"Then what?" Ellen asked, bringing things back on track.

"I stayed with her for a while, and I eventually decided that I had to go find out why you did what you did, so I went and visited your house again." She shuddered, "Fortunately, whatever magic was there when you and I were in there was gone, and it was just a normal building – a creepy building, but a normal one nonetheless."

"Yes..." Ellen nodded, "It's troublesome not being able to use magic anymore, but I suppose Mr. cat did do as he promised."

"I witnessed memories of when you were a child... I – I started to feel bad for you." She shook her head at the thought, "I can't believe it, but even after everything you did to me, I came to an understanding."

"What did you see?" Ellen asked.

"I saw you as a child growing up. I witnessed what your mom and dad did to you, I saw you trying to escape, and I saw what made you become the person you are today."

"You saw my _dad_ kill my friend then," Ellen mumbled.

"I did." Viola nodded, "I – I can see why you decided to kill him."

"All my life, I just wanted to do things a normal little girl could do. I wanted to play outside, I wanted friends, I wanted a loving father, and I wanted my mom to take me out shopping to try out new clothes! I just wanted to be normal, but the disease prevented me from doing anything, and it was clear that neither mom or dad loved me at all."

"That's not true." Viola shook her head, "Your mom loved you until the end."

"Lies!" Ellen shouted, her blue eyes glaring daggers at Viola, "You saw my memories! You should know what you're saying is false!"

"When the demon killed your mom, she told you that she loved you."

"Then why did she go along with what my father did?"

"I don't know," Viola shook her head, "But I know for a fact that she did it hesitantly – I promise that she did love you."

"So? That hardly excuses her actions!"

"No, it doesn't." Viola agreed.

"I've been wondering why you're not sick..." Ellen asked as she changed the subject, eyeing the purple haired girl across from her, "I figured that if the blood loss didn't kill you, the disease that was tearing my body apart would have gotten to you."

Viola looked down at her hands, and twirled her thumbs a little bit. She bit down on her lip, and shook her head, as if thinking of what to do.

"Well?" Ellen asked, clearly getting annoyed.

"I – it's not cured." She finally said, "The witch who saved me only managed to temporarily hold it back. I only have about a year left to live right now." She could see Ellen in her body lean back in complete relief at that information.

"That's good." Ellen nodded, "So you've got an additional year. That's not bad, is it?"

"You know..." Viola spoke loudly with venom coating her voice, "I could make a pact with a demon and get my body back, and force you back into this one."

Ellen blue eyes turned sharp as she glared across at Viola, "You wouldn't."

There was a very long silence in the room as Ellen continued to glare at the girl across from her, and Viola glared right back at her.

"No." Viola finally admitted, "I don't want to make a deal with a demon... You do know what making a pact with a demon means, right?"

Ellen shrugged, "I'm aware, but I wanted to be happy, and now that I have a loving father, friends, and I can do whatever I want, I can honestly say I'm the happiest I've ever been in my entire life."

"Don't you feel any regret at all for what you've done to me?" Viola asked.

Ellen looked at Viola for a few seconds, and finally she shook her head, "No."

Viola let out a sigh, "I see."

"I'm glad that you decided to be my friend, but you were always a means to an end, nothing more." Ellen admitted, shrugging her shoulder, a slight smile forming on her face when she saw Viola's eyes widening, and the girl started wiping her eyes, "Sorry, the truth hurts."

"It's not that," Viola mumbled, "It's just that... Your father said exactly that, when he talked to you before he died."

"How is that related to this in any way?"

She contemplated telling Viola how her dad had been poisoning her - how the man intended to kill Ellen with the pills, just like how Ellen intended to kill her after they switched bodies. It was frightening, but clearly, the two were more alike than Ellen would likely ever realize. Instead, Viola shook her head - no, she wouldn't tell the girl across from her... Mary had a point, and she knew that Ellen wouldn't take it well if she were told about the circumstances around her so called 'illness'. It would be pointless, the most petty form of revenge.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Ellen asked, her blue eyes looking bored as they gazed across at Viola.

Viola wiped away the stray tears, "I wish I had become your friend before it was too late... I wish I could have helped the little girl from those memories."

"I don't need help." Ellen replied.

"I could have saved you from your fate..." Viola sighed, "If I were there, perhaps I could have prevented all of this from happening."

"Don't do that." Ellen said, glaring at the girl, "Don't you dare say something like that."

"Why?"

"I'm happy," Ellen reiterated, "There's nothing that you need to save me from now, I LIKE what I have become, I honestly think this the best outcome I could have ever gotten out of my hell of a life."

"Do you truly think that?" Viola asked.

"I do." Ellen answered,

Viola shook her head, and frowned, "I guess this is it then. There's nothing more I can say to you."

"Yes, this is it." Ellen nodded, "Nothing you can say with make me change my mind about what I've done."

"Then... Good bye." Viola sighed.

"It was good to see you again."

"I wish I could say the same," Viola mumbled, standing up. She gave the girl one more sad glance, "C – can you tell my dad that I love him?"

"I tell him that every night," The girl assured her, and a wicked smile crossed her face, "But I'll be sure to tell him I REALLY love him tonight, just for you."

Viola wished for an instant that she could reach across and punch the girl in the face, to make her regret what she had done, ANYTHING, but she turned around and left the booth. She couldn't stop shaking as she walked down the neon lit hallway, and out to the sidewalk, where she tried to control her breathing. She was shaking so badly - she needed to get away now - so she ran as far away from the building as she could get. It was still mid day, and soon she found herself collapsing on a bench at a playground where a bunch of children were playing. She quickly brought her knees up and buried her face in them, wrapping her arms around her legs she started to cry.

"How did it go?"

Viola looked up, to see Mary was sitting beside her now. She didn't even know how the woman had tracked her down, but she supposed it was magic related.

"I just got done talking to someone who stole my body and was all smug about it," She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to stop her tears, "I wanted to hurt her so badly!"

"Did you tell her about her illness after all?" Mary asked.

"It crossed my mind, but I – I didn't tell her."

"Really?" Mary asked, raising her brow in surprise.

"Yes. I decided to take your advice."

"That's good." Mary smiled faintly, giving the girl a pat on the back, "I know it doesn't feel good now, but you did the right thing in not telling her."

"She doesn't regret what she did at all... I was so close to telling her out of spite, but I forced myself to say that I had the disease still instead."

"And she believed you?" Mary asked.

Viola chuckled bitterly, her face still covered, "From what I can tell from her memories, she tends to take things are face value. I told her what she wanted to believe, so she believed it. There's nothing else to it. The thought that I'm lying to her won't cross her mind, especially since she has always believed that she had an illness."

Mary rubbed her back, "I see..."

"It hurts..." Viola muttered, "To allow her to get away with it... I could have killed her in there, or at least tried... But... I let her go..."

Mary was silent, allowing the girl to cry. She just sat with her, silently rubbing her back and trying to be as supportive as she could.

"M – Mary..." Viola finally looked up, her golden eyes glancing over to the woman, "Would you be willing to let me stay with you?"

Mary actually laughed, causing the girl to blush, "Of course! I already offered that to you, and I won't take it back! In fact, I'm glad you want to stay with me, I would be worried sick about you if you weren't around. Though I have to warn you, I do tend to travel a lot, and I'm actually going to go meet with my husband in about a week."

"I think leaving here might do me good." Viola admitted, "I – I want to try living my new life, so I hope you'll show me how."

"Of course." Mary smiled, "I'll always be there to help you."

Viola smiled, and hugged the violet haired woman next to her, "Thank you so much, for everything you've done for me."

"Don't worry about it, dear."

Her old life was no more, and it would probably take many, many years before she could even begin to accept her new life and her new body. However, with Mary at her side, she felt that it was possible. If she looked at it one way, it was a new adventure, and she always loved the stories of adventure that her father used to read to her as a child.

"A new adventure," She repeated her thought aloud, smiling as she wiped away her tears, "Let's go."

And with that, Mary led her away to her new life.

XxXxXxX

Note:

The reason I ended up writing this story was because the ending of this game nearly traumatized me with how sadistic and horrible it was. Ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still, the ending REALLY disturbed me, so I decided I would make a fanfic where I attempt to make it into a sort of happy ending. I mean, Viola is unable to regain her body back, and Ellen still gets away with everything, but at least Viola is on her way to happiness in the end, and most importantly: At least she doesn't die in the most depressing way possible here. In a way, writing this has been therapeutic for me.

If I recall correctly, in the game the demon created the house for Ellen to lure people into. However, I decided to just make it the household she lived in for her entire life for simplicity's sake – it's not like the game gives much background as to what Ellen's life was prior to her becoming a horrible person anyway, so I found it to be an acceptable change.

For those who didn't pick up on it or didn't read my other stories, Mary in this is the same character from 'Years Gone By', she's Ib and Garry's daughter who is named after the Mary from Guertena's gallery. I was Initially toying with the idea of making this a full Ib/Witch's House cross over, but I quickly tossed the idea aside. It was tossed aside so early on that it didn't even make it into the outline. In the end I just decided to give Mary a role, and that's it (Plus it's another way to make myself feel better - Mary is a very nice person, and will definitely treat Viola well, and help her adjust to her new life, not to mention her husband, family, and friends will definitely be sympathetic and also help out). Also, her unnamed husband here is Koyomi, for those that are curious.

The only major change between the outline and the final draft is that I omitted a subplot where the house still had the souls of everyone who died in it. That was going to be the reason why Viola was getting such vivid memories in the house - the spirits of the dead staff, the people she lured in, and her parents would be showing her their point of view. The reason I scrapped it was mainly because I wanted the focus of the story to be primarily on Ellen and Viola only. I know this creates the question of just WHY she is getting such vivid memories from an objective view, but I'm just going to chalk it up to her being a different person than Ellen and noticing differences that Ellen either refused to notice, or didn't notice.

Thank you all for reading!


	4. My Happiness

My Happiness

Work hadn't been particularly bad that day; in fact, he would be inclined to say that things were going along smoothly in his office job. Working for a large corporation that had settled down a facility in his local area was a very well-paying job in fact, and he was thankful every day that he was employed and working there. He made more than enough to sustain himself and his family, and after his wife died, himself and his daughter. Now however, he made so much, and he was still sad, considering his only daughter had left him without a word almost two years ago.

The shock of the event still left him reeling even now. Why had she done that? Was he not a good father to her? They had a few fights here and there, but things seemed to be going well enough. The only issue they really had was a conflict of interests of what she wanted to do when she got older. He didn't know why, but she went from wanting to be a professional author, to a different path – she would rather travel the world and see all the sights. He could only vaguely pinpoint this change of interests about seven years ago, when he and she got into a fight when she was at the young age of thirteen.

Thirteen was such an early age, so he knew that the fight they had then must have left quite an impression on her, because she truly never did act the same after that. Oh, she would still greet him with a 'hello daddy', and would always demand a hug before going to bed, but it was the small things he started to notice. It was when she stopped praying at the small shrine to her mother that they had erected years ago that he began to notice these things. While she was growing older, he did wish she would pay more respect to his wife, but he never said anything to her, not wanting to start another conflict.

Perhaps he should have, since these small changes began to become larger and larger as the years went on. She slowly stopped calling him 'daddy' and started to refer to him with a detached 'father' instead. She stopped demanding hugs before bed, she started hanging out with a worse crowd in the schools, and her desire to leave him and go out and travel the world grew larger and larger by the day. By the time she completed High School, she was ready to go, and not even a month later, she left him without even saying good bye first – all that was there was a note, with no phone number, no email address, nothing to contact her with.

He didn't know where he went wrong. He wasn't going to force her to stay with him – no! He wasn't that selfish, he knew she wanted to go out around the world, but he didn't understand how their relationship slowly dissolved over the years. No matter what he did to try and repair their relation, she would just give him a faintly amused smile that she seemed to adopt as her trademark look around when she was thirteen, and only seem to go out to eat with him to amuse him, and nothing more. It was like she didn't care about him at all, and only saw him as a tool all these years.

Maybe he was overthinking it, but it still hurt that she left him without a word. He figured that she would at least give him the courtesy of saying good bye.

"Why am I thinking about this now?" He mumbled to himself, stepping into his favorite coffee shop. It was now early in the evening, ten minutes pass six, the sun was still in the sky, but it was beginning to dip down to the west. The shop itself wasn't the best – in fact, it was actually fairly old. The place was a local business that had somehow managed to survive despite another much larger coffeehouse opening up down the street – perhaps it was because of people like him, who just preferred the good ol' hometown specials, instead of the processed coffee from the other place.

The interior of the building was homely – there were about ten wooden tables scattered all about in the middle of the room with no order or rhyme. There was a fireplace there as well, which was unlit since it was in the middle of July. Above the fireplace, and all around on the walls were all sorts of pictures, some depicting the forests around the area, others showing the ocean, old houses, and the like. There was a bar-like counter as well, where patrons, if they so desired, could drink their coffee and chat with the employees. As was said earlier, the atmosphere was rather homely, and everyone knew each other.

The bell above the door let out a chime as he walked in, and he saw that there was only one other man there – the employee behind the bar.

"Slow business day?" He inquired, walking up to the bar.

"Most of our business is in the morning and during weekends," The man behind the bar said. He was dressed in a very loose fitting shirt, and pants, and he had a large moustache covering his face, and he was beginning to go bald. His green eyes were kind however, and he had on a fond smile as he looked upon the man who had entered the building, "How was work, Mike?"

"It went well," Mike said, taking off his suit top, leaving him wearing khakis and a button up shirt. He set the shirt aside on the chair at the bar, "Can I get the usual?"

"Usual, coming right up!" The man behind the bar said, turning around to the machinery there. He tinkered with a few things, and soon coffee was pouring out into a cup he was holding out below it, "You usually like it real strong, right?"

"Right," Mike answered, rubbing a hand through his blond hair, and clean shaven face, "Make sure it's black."

"And here you go." The man turned around and handed it to him.

Mike pulled out his wallet, and paid the man, walking over to the table nearest to the fire place with his drink. He grabbed the local paper from a rack on the bar counter, and went over to sit down. Drinking the coffee, he let out a sigh. While he did enjoy coffee in the morning, it was after work on days like these, when the sky was beginning to turn orange, and he had a paper in his hands, that he enjoyed it the most. He shoved his earlier thoughts about his daughter aside, deciding that it wasn't worth ruining his day over, and began to read the paper.

The bell above the door went off again, but Mike paid little heed to it as he read the article. It was when he heard the soft voice of a young woman that he looked up in curiosity. Usually it was only him and a few friends that bothered to visit this late in during the week days, so it was odd to hear someone so young coming in.

"I'd just like some green tea, please." She said, digging into her purse and pulling out some coins. The woman had fairly dark purple hair tied back into a ponytail, reaching pretty far down her back, and he could catch a glimmer of gold when he saw her eyes. She was dressed very casually, wearing a sleeveless blouse, and a short, but modest skirt, ending with her walking in sandals. Her purse was hanging from around her shoulder, and she was digging through it now, looking for change. Overall, the young woman was quite beautiful, and if he were twenty years younger, he'd definitely consider trying to court her.

"Sure thing," The man behind the bar said, giving the girl a curious look as well, but he didn't say anything rude, and just served the woman, "Here you go."

"Thank you," She smiled politely to him and bowed down.

"It's no problem, miss." The man kindly smiled at her, "Please enjoy your drink."

"I will," She nodded.

Mike watched as her head turned towards him, and he could almost swear that she looked nervous upon seeing him. He saw her shudder at the sight of him, and avert her eyes. Why would she do that? He could honestly claim that he had never met this girl once before in his entire life. He shook his head, and his blue eyes looked back down at the paper he was holding.

"Um, hello…" The girl had come over and took a seat at the table he was at surprisingly. She still looked very nervous for some odd reason, though he couldn't tell why.

"Hello," He smiled at her, trying to put her at ease.

She was quiet, looking down at her tea intently. In truth, it was beginning to make even him a little uncomfortable, but she finally started to speak.

"Uh, um… Nice weather today."

"Yes." He nodded slowly, "It is nice."

He watched her bite down on her lip. It was clear that the girl wanted something from him, and for some odd reason, she seemed to be very nervous around him, so he decided to try and at least break the ice a little bit.

"You have very unique eyes," He claimed, "I can honestly say I've never seen gold before. They're actually pretty nice looking."

If anything, that seemed to make the girl a little sad, but she put on a genuine smiled anyway, "That's the first thing most people say to me," She admitted, "It took me a while, but I tend to agree with the sentiment that they are pretty."

"I suppose that's good." He stated, unsure of what to make of that statement.

"It's very good, actually." She looked at him, "It took me a while to see it that way though."

The man shook his head, not really understanding what that meant, but he decided to try and play nice still and asked, "May I know your name?"

"My name is Viola." She replied.

"Viola?" His eyes widened. What were the chances that the girl across from him would have the same exact name as his daughter? His heart started to beat faster, wondering if this WAS her daughter, but he quickly shoved that thought aside, clearly the girl wasn't related to him in any way, she looked nothing like his daughter who had left him two years ago.

"Yes, that's my name." She smiled, "My daddy said that my mom gave it to me just before giving birth, as if the name just suddenly popped into her head."

Mike blinked in surprise, "Really?" He asked. That sounded almost exactly how his own daughter got her name, but he supposed that the chances of a little girl being named in such a fashion weren't _that_ low, and that there could possibly be some girl named Viola who was named in exactly the same way that he'd run into some time later in life.

She nodded, "Yeah…"

"That's interesting." He couldn't help but say, when he noticed that the conversation was beginning to die again.

"I've been watching you," She finally stated after another lengthy silence.

"Excuse me?"

She winced, "Um… Sorry, that came out wrong. I mean… Well… I've been keeping tabs on you throughout the years. I know that your daughter left you two years ago, and I only now worked up the courage to confront you, when I determined that she never really intends to come back."

His eyes narrowed, and he frowned, "What are you getting at? Are you the reason she left?"

Viola gasped in surprise, "N – No I don't mean it like that! She left out of her own will, I promise you!"

Mike kept his eyes fixed on hers, and she held the look. He finally let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, determining that the girl wasn't lying at least, "Then… Why did you do that? Keep tabs on me, I mean."

"Because I wanted to meet you again someday," She answered, looking very sad as she looked down, quickly wiping her eyes.

"Have we met?" He asked.

"Yes."

"When did we meet?" He asked kindly, trying to coax it out of the very nervous girl across from him.

"It'd be more accurate to say that I've known you for a majority of my life, and it was only after some events about seven years ago that I stopped seeing you." She continued to look down at the table, so he couldn't look into her eyes.

"Seven years ago?" He mumbled, "You mean back when my daughter and I got into a fight?"

She nodded, "Yes. You and m – and your daughter – got into a big fight about going into the woods to meet with her friend, because it could be dangerous."

He crossed his arms, "And it was true in the end."

"Yes. You were more right than you ever realized." She agreed, "Your daughter was very stupid for not listening to you, and she regrets it up to this day. She hates the fact that the last memory of her father was of him pointing a gun at her… As she tried calling out to him, wishing that he would save her like always."

"What?" He asked, blinking, "Your sources aren't very reliable, are they? I saved my daughter that day from some sort of monster."

He watched the girl across from him wince at that, and she crossed her arms around her chest, holding herself, as if it were really cold. She started to shake her head, and she still refused to look up at him.

"No. It wasn't a monster."

"Then what was it?"

"It was me." She said, looking up to him, "You shot me in the shoulder." She pulled at the side of her blouse, and revealed the scarred skin where she had been shot.

"So…" His heart started to beat faster… He remembered Viola running to him in terror, telling him about the monster following her, and he remembered in his panic that he shot the monster. This girl across from him claimed to be the monster, and from her earlier statement… "You are claiming to be my daughter."

"You warned me about a witch in the woods." She decided to say, "It turns out that it was true."

"What?"

"The witch switched bodies with me, and made you shoot me."

He began to shake all over – no, no, no, no, no… That couldn't be true. He shook his head and glared at her, "No, that's impossible."

She sadly looked up to him, "I know you won't believe me, and that's fine."

"What's fine?"

"I just wanted to see you again… I wanted my last memory of you to not be of you shooting me, but of you loving your daughter." She smiled, "I'm so glad to see that you haven't changed, that you still love her."

"What do you mean?"

"The thought of shooting her – of shooting _me_ – makes you sick to your stomach." She wiped her eyes, "I know I can't come back, I know I can't replace her, not since you refuse to believe me, but thank you for indulging me for a little while."

She stood up, and started to walk towards the door, with her tea completely untouched. Mike watched her walk towards the door, and something inside of him compelled him to stand up, knocking his chair down. For some reason, he felt compelled to believe this girl.

"Stop!" He cried.

She did as he asked, and turned around to look at him.

"A – Are you really Viola?"

"Yes, daddy." She answered, tears streaming down her face.

Daddy. He hadn't heard his daughter refer to him as that in many years. He wanted so badly to run over and embrace this girl, but he couldn't do it. There was still a chance that she was lying… A witch switching bodies and making him shoot his own daughter? The mere thought made him absolutely sick to his stomach, and he felt ill enough that he had to sit down, righting his seat up in the process. He needed more proof – he couldn't let her walk out without knowing the truth.

"S – Sit down." He motioned towards the seat she had left.

She had apparently not expected that much, and she slowly but surely walked back to her seat, and sat down, looking at him with a curious, but hopeful expression.

"You can't drop a bomb like that on me, and then just leave." He chided the girl, "I – I don't know if I can believe you, or if I WANT to believe you, but if you really are my daughter, surely you can prove it?"

She paused, looking thoughtful, "What kind of proof do you want?"

"Anything," He stated, "Any memories from your childhood, anything to prove to me that you're really her."

"Well, I wanted to be a professional author when I was younger," She smiled fondly at that, "I wrote a few stories recently and sent them in, but my drafts were all rejected." She sighed at the thought, "I'm currently working on another one, so I hope that one will be approved…"

He nodded. Yes. His daughter wanted to be an author back then too, before the events of seven years ago.

"Um, I remember when mom died…" She whispered quietly, "I remember holding her hand in the hospital as she passed away, and her final words to me were 'I love you, so much.'…" She paused to wipe her eyes, "Then she talked to you for a little bit, and passed away…"

"I remember." He said roughly. Even fifteen years after it happened, the memory still stung a bit.

And so she recounted memories to him that she had from her childhood. From her earliest memory of splattered spaghetti sauce all over the counter and forcing her mom to clean it up, to the last memory where she had a fight with her dad. The whole while, Mike was nodding along with the memories, he could recall those events too, and was surprised by how well this girl knew them. The creeping, horrible, suspicion that this girl was really telling the truth was on his mind the entire time, and he entertained a distant hope, and kept back the despair that was coming in.

"You… You truly do remember all of this, don't you?" He finally asked.

"I do." Through her conversation she had ordered two additional cups of tea, and the orange hue outside slowly turned purple, darkening more and more. It was a half hour pass eight, and it was getting fairly dark outside.

"Then…" He pressed his hands against his head, "Y – You said earlier… You switched bodies?"

She sighed, "Yes. This body is Ellen's."

"Ellen…" He muttered, remembering his daughter talking to him excitedly about her new friend she met in the woods. One who lived in a very big house and was sick, but very nice.

"Or rather, it _was_ Ellen's." She corrected, "It's mine now."

"Then that means…" He looked down at his hands, "I – I shot you…"

She frowned, "You didn't know."

"That changes nothing." He said, shaking his head, "I shot you… How could I do that to my own daughter? What kind of man am I?"

Her heart thumped loudly against her chest, and the girl covered her mouth with her hands. He had just called her his daughter – did he actually believe her? An old idea she thought once foolish ignited in the back of her mind, and she couldn't help but feel a few tears sting at the corners of her eyes, which she quickly tried to wipe away.

"Viola…" He mumbled, "Why were you like that then? Why did you look like a monster?"

"Prior to switching bodies, Ellen destroyed her own." She shuddered, the thought still disturbed her to this day, "She never intended to let me live."

"Why'd you switch with her?" He asked.

"Because we fought…" She looked uneasily to the side, "I was really angry with you at the time, and I stupidly thought that Ellen was right – switching bodies would be a way to get away from it, since I wouldn't really be Viola anymore." She shook her head, "I was so stupid…"

"So it's my fault?" He couldn't help but say, "All of this happened, because of me?"

"No." She shook her head, "Don't think like that."

"That doesn't stop it from being true," He stated, "I almost killed you."

"it's also my fault as well," She insisted, "I was the one who argued with you about something really stupid, and ultimately, it was me who decided to switch bodies. Ellen could do nothing to me; I was the one who initiated the switch."

"Still, I'm indirectly responsible…" He sighed, "Then… If I shot you, how did you survive?"

"I was found by another witch," She saw her dad's eyes shoot up, "A good one! Don't worry. She took me in and nursed me back to health. She used some magic to restore my body back to its previous state, and she took me in, when it was clear that Ellen intended to take my old life away from me…"

"Why didn't you come see me immediately?" He asked angrily, shaking his head, "You have all those memories! Surely I would have believed you!"

"No, you wouldn't have." She mumbled, "Ellen was playing my part too perfectly. She looked like me, and I doubt you would have believed a girl who didn't looked like me over one who looked and acted just her. Would you honestly say you believe in magic? Can you seriously say that you believe me now? You honestly believe that I'm your daughter?"

He thought about that. Maybe this girl was insane, and she wasn't his daughter, and was just some poor girl trying to convince him that she was his daughter. However, she had a crystal clear memory of events that he knew that only Viola would know, her memories of their mother, and her reaction to recalling those memories in particular was far too convincing to be anything else. If he believed her, however, that would mean that he had nearly killed his daughter…

When he stayed silent for near a minute she shook her head, "See? You still doubt me, even now. I don't blame you, but that is why I never confronted you after it happened."

"Don't put words in my mouth." He gave her a sharp look, "If you had shown yourself back then, I think I would have been able to tell."

"Really?" She asked, clearly not expecting such an answer.

"Really." He sighed, recalling the memories, "After what happened seven years ago, Viola changed. It was small at first, but she started to change more and more over the years. Initially I thought it was just her growing up, and thought nothing of it, but things were becoming too different too drastically, and soon I was wondering what was wrong, if I had raised my baby girl wrong, or whether I didn't exert enough of my influence into her life…" He sighed, "If you had shown yourself to me, I think I would have clearly been able to notice the differences much sooner, but honestly, I think in my heart I knew you were my real daughter when you called me 'daddy'." He shook his head, "She stopped calling me that not even a year after the events that took place after that fateful day, and it was maybe a month after that that she told me that she wanted to travel the world when she grew up. I knew your dream since you were a little girl was to be an author – I remember you telling your mom that, as do you…"

"Yes, I do remember…" She smiled, at the memory of her writing stories on blank sheets of paper, and proudly showing them to her mother, despite the horrible grammar and spelling. She could recall the times her mother sat down with her and helped her write a few. The stories she absolutely treasured that she hid in her room.

"The point is, I believe you."

"You… You do?"

"Yes." He nodded.

Her eyes were wide – unbelieving – and tears slowly began to usher their way out, "Y – You… You really mean it?"

"Yes, I do." He answered.

She stood up and practically bolted to his side, "Daddy!" She cried, "I – I missed you so much…" She continued to cry, "I thought this would be the last time I saw you! I – I wanted to say good bye…"

He smiled and stood up next to his daughter and wrapped his arms around the girl, "I may never forgive myself for what I've done to you," He admitted, "But I'm glad to have my baby girl back."

She wrapped her arms around him and started to hiccup as she choked back her sobs, trying not to let them out in such a public place. She slowly lost that battle however, and soon she was wailing as she held onto him.

"Daddy… Daddy…" She mumbled over and over again happily through her tears, "I missed you…"

Mike held his daughter close, and noticed that the owner of the place was absent – the man had probably went into the back to give them a little privacy, and for that, Mike was grateful. He held the girl close to him, and for the first time in seven years, he felt like he had his daughter back. She was acting like she should act, and didn't seem like an imposter. More than ever, he believed her, and he couldn't help but shed a few tears himself. His baby girl was here, and he would make sure to never lose her again.

XxXxXxX

Father and daughter walked out of the building to the car. The girl held her father's hand tightly in her own, and while she was still crying, her sobs had calmed down considerable to just a happy smile and a few tears being spilled occasionally. Her dad was far more composed, but it was clear that even he was a little choked up to see his daughter again. He had always wondered why Viola changed so drastically seven years ago, and now he had his answer.

The sky was now a very dark blue, and the street lights were all on. They walked down the road of the town quietly together. All the shops were now closed or in the process of closing, and all the parking spots were beginning to empty out. A car drove by now and then, but other than that, it was peacefully quiet outside. Soon, the two had arrived at his own car, and he beckoned his little girl in.

"You still have the same car?" She asked as she got in.

"It's a nice vehicle," He defended.

"I know," She smiled, "I'm just glad to see things haven't changed too much since I've been gone."

With that said, they both put on their seatbelts, and soon Mike was driving home, bringing his daughter there after seven years of absence. The twenty year old beside him looked both thrilled and extremely nervous at the same time, so he decided to talk to her to calm her nerves down.

"These past seven years you've been with Mary then?"

"Yes," She nodded, "She is a very nice woman, I'm sure you'd really like her. She let me stay with her, and we traveled around a lot. Her mom and dad are both really funny." She giggled at the thought. "She and her husband treated me as one of their own, which I was really grateful for, since I was kind of in a bad state a few years back. I would do whatever they asked of me, which mostly consisted of babysitting their kids while they go out together." She rolled her eyes at the thought of that.

"I see." He mumbled, "So… Are you used to that body now?"

"It took me a LONG time." She stated, "Now most mornings, I wake up and I see _me_ when I look in the mirror, but occasionally I'll trip up and wonder who that stranger is. I used to only see the girl who tried to kill me, and I hated that. I would hate my reflection; I hated my eyes, and everything." She sighed, "Now… I actually do kind of like my eyes. They're very unique, and purple is not a bad hair color I suppose." She shrugged.

"I see." Her father said uneasily, "It still really disturbs me that you switched bodies, and that I've been housing a fake all these years."

"Daddy…" Viola mumbled, "She's not necessarily a fake. She IS of your flesh and blood. The only relation I have to you right now is through my memories, and nothing else. My body has nothing relating to you at all."

"That changes nothing," The man stubbornly stated, "You're still my daughter, and you'll always be my daughter."

"What do you plan to do if Ellen does come back?"

He paused. Now that was a good question, "I don't know."

"You can't just boot her out, since all records state that she IS your family, and it is true, she is." Viola explained.

"I know," He sighed, "I guess if she comes back I will ask her to explain herself, and try to make her apologize to you."

"I don't know if that's a good idea…" Viola muttered.

"And why not?"

"She probably thinks I'm dead right now."

"From me shooting you?"

"No." She shook her head, "I met with her after that, and I told her then that I only had a year left to live because of the illness her body had."

"You're sick?" He asked with worry.

"No." She shook her head, "It's a long story, but basically her parents were poisoning her, and she thought that because of that, she was born with a disease that was slowly killing her throughout her life." Viola sighed, "That is why she switched bodies with me, to avoid the illness. She even made a pact with a demon to prevent herself from dying…"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that when she dies, her soul is going to be devoured." Viola explained.

He winced, "That's… pretty bad."

"Tell me about it. The whole reason she did it too was fake, so if she ever found out that I'm not sick, then I honestly can't imagine how she would react." She sighed, "That's why I didn't say anything back when I last saw her. I knew that if she knew, she would probably have a breakdown, and it would indirectly hurt you and my friends."

Mike frowned, "I see."

"What are you thinking?"

"I think she deserved it after what she did to you." His hands gripped the wheel tightly, "To try and kill a thirteen year old girl after you've stolen her body… To try and kill my daughter…" He gritted his teeth, "I'm surprised that you didn't try to get revenge."

"It crossed my mind." She admitted, "But I just… I didn't think it would be worth it."

He sighed, "I suppose not…"

Viola started to cry again, and she quickly wiped her eyes. She noticed her father casting her a worried glance, and she giggled, despite her tears, "I'm sorry… I'm just really happy, that even being in a different body, and despite having a different voice, you still believe me when I say that I'm your daughter."

He reached over and gently pat her on the shoulder, "Of course I do." He assured her, "And if Ellen ever comes back, I'll think of something to do with her."

Soon they pulled into his driveway, and the two got out of the car. The street was crowded with cars, since he lived in a really compact neighborhood, and it had street lights lighting up the whole place in the night. The houses looked like they were nearly about to be smashed together, since they were so close to one another, and they had practically no yard to speak of. However, the buildings themselves were fairly large, being two story houses were plenty of room inside.

"I'm home!" Viola called upon entering the house, and she took her shoes off in the foyer.

Mike followed close behind, and watched as his daughter took off in the house, taking the first left in the hallway leading inside towards the living room. The living room had a small table in the middle and had pictures hanging up on the walls all around the room, showing off their family, up to the thirteen years that Viola had been there, and then six years after that, when Ellen took over, ending with the girl's graduation photo. The most prominent thing in the room however, what a small shrine erected in the corner, where Viola had gotten on her knees in front of, and she rang the bell beside it, and started to pray.

That was what convinced him that this was truly his daughter once and for all.

"It's been a while, mom." She started to say, "A lot has happened to me over the years, both good and bad. You probably wouldn't even believe me if I told you, so I'll just tell you the good news that I'm back – daddy actually believes that it's me! I can't believe it, even now… It makes me so happy, and I just wanted to share my happiness with you. I love and miss you mom, I hope you're doing well, wherever you are."

Mike gave Viola a pat on the shoulder when she was done praying, causing the girl to jump, but her startled expression quickly turned to a smile.

"So," Mike mumbled, "Welcome home. You're free to stay as long as you'd like."

If possible, it seemed that Viola's smile grew even larger, and she started to laugh because she was so happy, "Mary said that she wouldn't come pick me up for a few days, and I was wondering if I was going to have to get a hotel, but I think she knew that you'd believe me."

"Of course I would believe you." He stated, hugging the girl, who gladly accepted the hug and wrapped her own arms around him.

"You're just weird," She decided good naturedly.

"In a good way, I hope." He chuckled.

"In the best way," She declared.

As the two parted, they sat at the table, side by side. He simply kept a grip on her shoulder, and she leaned into his side, both were just happy to be together once more, after so many years of being apart.

"Viola," He mumbled, "I'm so sorry, for what I did to you."

"Daddy…" She muttered, "It's all right. At the time I was furious with you, but I've grown since then, and I've accepted why you did it. You wanted to protect your little girl…"

"You were calling out to me." He covered his face with his free hand, "And I betrayed you…"

Viola knew then that this would eat up her dad for the rest of his life, so she wrapped her arms around him, and squeezed him tightly, "I'm alive, and I'm right here with you."

"Would you like to stay, for a little while?" He invited.

She couldn't stop the torrent of tears from coming, and she nodded her head, unable to contain her happiness anymore, "Yes. I would love that, daddy."

Father and daughter embraced each other once again, knowing that there would be many days ahead of them for them to catch up, and to try and make their regrets go away. They would keep in contact with one another, let each other knows about their achievements, and most importantly, they will love each other unconditionally, regardless of their blood.

Viola had reached her happy ending she desired for so many years.

XxXxXxX

Notes:

Ok, I couldn't let it end on the bittersweet ending of last chapter. I'm a sucker for happy endings, so I decided to write this up.

That's really all I've got to say about this one.

Thank you for reading!


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